The Serpent's Apprentice
by UchihaLord15
Summary: At a young age, Naruto makes a decision that changes the fate of Konoha... and not in a good way. Pairings will be revealed at a later date.
1. Chapter 1

Uchiha Lord: The idea for this story originally came from Zephyrclaws, but he doesn't like DarkNaru as much as I do, so he let me have it. Hope you enjoy it.

And of course, the standard 'I don't own Naruto, cause if I did it wouldn't have become so sucky lately' disclaimer.

Please review! They fan the flames of my youth!

A five-year old Uzumaki Naruto watched as the other kids who'd been at the playground left with their parents. A couple of the adults had sent him dirty looks as they picked up their children. _Why?_ he wondered for the hundredth time. _Why do they all seem to hate me?_ He looked down at the ground as the tears began to fall. As he stood there, he heard footsteps and looked up to see an older boy wearing glasses walking toward him.  
"Hi there," the boy greeted him. "What's your name?"  
"N-Naruto," Naruto stifled a sob as he spoke.  
"Nice to meet you Naruto. I'm Yakushi Kabuto." The boy held his hand out to Naruto, who frowned at it. He'd learned the hard way to be wary of strangers.  
"What do you want?" Naruto asked him.  
"I just wanted to talk to you. Can we go somewhere a little more private?" Kabuto asked with a friendly, open smile. Naruto shrugged and Kabuto led him away from the park and to a darker, less populated part of the village. As they walked, Kabuto started asking him some questions. "So, Naruto, why were you crying?"  
"I was sad." Naruto answered tightly.  
"What happened?" Kabuto asked, sounding concerned.  
"None of your business," Naruto snapped.  
"Sorry, I'm not trying to be nosy," Kabuto apologized. He stopped in the middle of a dark road and sat down on a bench, patting the spot next to him. Naruto hesitated, but sat down. "So, Naruto, I actually know quite a bit about you already." Naruto frowned.  
"What do you mean? What kind of stuff?" Kabuto smiled again.  
"I know why people hate you." Naruto froze and stared at the boy, not sure whether or not to believe him. "Do you want me to tell you?" Kabuto asked in a friendly tone. Naruto thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "You were born on October 10th, right?" Naruto nodded. "You know what else happened that day, don't you?"  
"Yeah, the Yondaime killed the Kyuubi and saved the village," Naruto answered.  
"Almost true. The Yondaime defeated the Kyuubi, but he couldn't kill it. It's impossible for any mortal to kill one of the Biju."  
"So what did he do?" Naruto asked.  
"He had to seal it away. Most Biju can be sealed inside objects, but the Kyuubi is the strongest. The only thing strong enough to contain the immense power of the Kyuubi was a newborn baby. You see, a newborn has undeveloped chakra coils, so his body and chakra network can adapt to the Biju's chakra." He stopped talking when he saw the look in Naruto's eyes that told him the boy understood exactly what had happened.  
"You mean.. They hate me because I have the Kyuubi in me?" Naruto whispered. Kabuto nodded.  
"Don't misunderstand, though. Most of those fools view you as the Kyuubi reincarnated. All you really are is the container of the Kyuubi. You are still Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto's bright blue eyes took on a fierce, angry glare. He looked around and saw nothing but more of the village. The sadness and hatred he'd fostered as he grew up suddenly seemed to double. His breathing grew faster and his heart started pounding as his thoughts started running at a mile a minute.  
_They hate me for something that was never my fault. I had nothing to do with the Kyuubi, yet they all treat me like a monster! If I wasn't around, the Kyuubi would have destroyed the village! I helped save them and they treat me like complete trash! _  
Kabuto saw the boy growing angrier and angrier and quickly stepped in before Naruto did something to give them away.  
"Naruto, calm down." Naruto wheeled around and glared at him angrily.  
"Calm down?" Naruto growled. "Calm down!?"  
"Yes. If you get angry, you might unleash some of the Kyuubi's chakra, and then you'd be in a lot of trouble," Kabuto answered smoothly. Naruto hesitated, then took a deep breath as he attempted to control himself. "Besides, it's not all bad." He saw Naruto's incredulous, disbelieving look and quickly continued speaking before the boy could interrupt him. "There's a man who's willing to make a deal with you because of the Kyuubi. He says that he'll give you power if you agree to serve him."  
"How do I know I can trust him?" Naruto snarled. Kabuto smiled, then took off his glasses and stood up.  
"Watch," he ordered. He allowed his old blood to rise and he seemed to transform in front of Naruto's eyes, becoming a suddenly fearsome figure. Naruto gasped and took a step back. Kabuto smiled as he restrained himself again and replaced his glasses. "I have that power because of my master. He gave me power in exchange for servitude, and he's willing to do the same for you."  
"What's 'servitude'?" Naruto asked, somewhat sheepishly.  
"If you're in servitude to someone, it means that you obey them. You will have to do as he says, without hesitation."  
"I'm not so sure I like the idea of being forced to obey someone like that," Naruto muttered.  
"It's not really that bad. It's no worse than what the shinobi of this village have, and you'll get a lot stronger a _lot_ faster." Naruto thought about it a little bit. "You don't have to answer me right now," Kabuto said with that open, friendly smile. "If you want to join Orochimaru-sama, meet me here tomorrow night. If you change your mind, you just don't have to come. But don't try to sell me out, Naruto-kun. That would be quite rude, and you wouldn't get anything done anyways." He smiled, then turned around and walked away from Naruto.  
XXXXXXXX  
Naruto returned to the orphanage that night, his mind whirling in confusion. Thoughts of the Kyuubi and his past spun around and around in his head. He fell sleep with his mind buzzing.  
The next morning, he woke up and, after eating breakfast, went to the Hokage Tower to find the old man. He had permission to see him whenever he wanted, so he just went straight up to the office on the top floor.  
"Hey, oji-san!" Naruto greeted him with a forced, fake happiness. The Sandaime Hokage looked past his stacks of paperwork at the young boy.  
"Hello, Naruto. How are you doing?" He didn't realize that Naruto was faking being happy, because Naruto almost always was.  
"I'm alright. Hey, oji-san, do you know about someone named Orochimaru?" The Hokage sat straight up like he'd been electrocuted. His face grew suddenly stern and worried.  
"Naruto, where did you hear that name?"  
"I heard someone mention it yesterday," Naruto said truthfully. The Sandaime took a deep breath as he tried to calm down. Most likely, someone had just been ranting about Orochimaru.  
"Orochimaru was once my student. He was a very powerful and dangerous man. When the time came for me to decide who the Yondaime Hokage would be, Orochimaru thought that he should have been chosen. When I chose someone else, he abandoned the village, feeling he had been betrayed."

"How strong was he?" Naruto asked.

"He was incredibly powerful. He was almost as strong as the Yondaime." Naruto's eyes grew huge as he imagined it. Someone as strong as the Yondaime, giving him power… And all he had to do was become the man's shinobi.

He had made his decision.

Uchiha Lord: I already have a pairing lined up for Naruto, in case you're wondering.


	2. Growing up

Kabuto smiled as he saw the blonde five-year old approach him.

"I'm glad to see you again, Naruto-kun. Now then, I need you to stay very quiet and follow me. If we get caught, we could get in a lot of trouble." He then smiled reassuringly and began to leave. Naruto hurried to keep up with him. They snuck through many dark alleys and abandoned buildings before emerging near the wall. Here, Kabuto crouched down and hurried to the wall as fast as possible. Naruto followed and the two of them flattened themselves against the wall, keeping low so as to avoid being noticed.

"Now what?" Naruto whispered to his guide. There was only one gate in the wall around Konoha, and it wasn't anywhere near them. Besides, it was always guarded. Kabuto flashed him a quick grin.

"Now we leave," he whispered back. As Naruto watched, he pushed against the wall with one hand, and a circular section of the wall slid back, revealing a dark hole, just big enough for a grown man to crawl through. Being only five and thirteen, Naruto and Kabuto had no trouble going through the secret exit and emerging on the other side of the wall.

"It'll take us about a week to reach Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto told him. "I have supplies for both of us, so let's not waste any time." Naruto nodded his assent, and they left.

XXXXXXXXXX

A week later, they arrived in Rice country, where Naruto was immediately taken to a hidden base.

"Now don't forget, you must always be respectful to Orochimaru-sama. He's not above killing you out of irritation," Kabuto reminded him. Naruto nodded. The boy had already told him all about how wonderful Orochimaru was and how he should behave around him, and it was starting to get on Naruto's nerves. Kabuto opened the door and led Naruto into what looked like a throne room. The man sitting on the throne was a tall man with white skin, yellow eyes, and purple markings around his eyes. He looked slightly displeased as he watched them enter.

"Why have you abandoned your place in Konoha, Kabuto-kun?" Orochimaru asked them as they walked closer.

"I didn't want to risk anything happening to Naruto-kun, Orochimaru-sama. He is, after all, the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi No Kitsune."

Orochimaru's eyes widened in surprise as he took in that information. An instant later, he was standing in front of them, crouching down to put himself on eye level with the two boys. Naruto gasped as he witnessed the man's speed. The man ignored this as he looked at Naruto quizzically.

"What is your name?" he asked.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Orochimaru-sama," Naruto answered him.

"Do you know where the seal that contains the Kyuubi is placed on you?" Orochimaru asked. Naruto shook his head.

"I didn't even know about the Kyuubi until Kabuto-kun told me about it," He said, rather sadly. Orochimaru nodded thoughtfully.

"You look rather weak for a Jinchuriki," he commented.

"What's a Jinchuriki?" Naruto asked. Kabuto jumped in before Orochimaru got angry at the child.

"Jinchuriki means 'power of human sacrifice'," he told Naruto. "And it's a term commonly used to refer to people like you, who have had a demon sealed inside of them."

"Naruto-kun, have you ever had any kind of ninja training?" Orochimaru asked. Naruto shook his head. "Then we must start with the basics," Orochimaru stated as he stood up. "Kabuto, find him a room. Tomorrow, you will join the other children staying here and will begin to learn how to be a shinobi." He turned away from them and walked back to his throne, and Kabuto placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder and quietly led him out of the room.

"He's kind of scary, isn't he?" Naruto asked once they were out in the hallway.

"He can be," Kabuto agreed, cheerful as always. "But he delivers on his promises. I guarantee you will become a strong shinobi in Otogakure."

XXXXXXXXXX

Over the next few months, Naruto got into a steady routine. He got up early in order to eat breakfast and get dressed, and then he would go to the dojo to start practice. There were many other children his age who were learning the shinobi arts. However, Oto did not have a formal style of teaching. Each student was allowed to look through the scrolls that Orochimaru had gathered and written in order to learn one of those fighting styles, or else they could go through the scrolls detailing the fundamentals of the shinobi arts in an attempt to develop their own fighting style.

Naruto had taken the latter approach. Once he'd learned how to mold chakra, he asked Orochimaru for advice, and was told that chakra was practically worthless unless wielded right, so Naruto would be best served by learning how to control his chakra to the greatest degree possible before learning combat jutsus. So, he'd found every scroll there was on chakra control exercises and got to work. He put in a request for a piece of chakra paper, and when he got it he discovered that he had an affinity for wind nature. It only took him a couple of weeks to master the tree walking and water walking exercises, and then he got started on changing his chakra to a wind nature. It was slow going, but Naruto never once lost confidence or determination.

In the meantime, he started working on taijutsu. Again, he had opted to develop his own fighting style. He had thought ahead and came up with a style that he could implement his future abilities into. Instead of fighting with fists, he had four knives with curved blades in each hand, holding each handle between two fingers. He used these knives like claws, striking at his opponent with the intent to slash and tear at them. He watched other people practicing taijutsu in the dojo and began taking the best parts of their styles and integrating them into his own style. He focused on dodging while staying close to the opponent so he could strike them once he saw an opening. Also, he planned on asking for knives made of chakra metal once he mastered wind nature manipulation, so he could increase the cutting capability and reach of his strikes.

XXXXX

Naruto picked up a small square of paper and placed it between his palms, focusing his chakra on it. He remembered what the scroll had said about grinding the two parts of his chakra against each other to sharpen each edge, and did his best to apply that to his training. He moved one hand after a minute to see the paper was cut about halfway through. He tossed it aside and grabbed another piece. He had a stack of a hundred squares to practice on, and he wouldn't work on anything else until he had gone through all one hundred squares.

XXXXX

He scowled as he looked at the last square. It looked like he hadn't made any progress at all.

"Dammit," he muttered as he stood up. Otogakure had… expanded his vocabulary in interesting ways. Especially that red haired girl who was Orochimaru's bodyguard; it had been quite educational when she had gotten angry at him.

He stalked over to the middle of the dojo and pulled his knives out of the pouch that was strapped to the back of his waist. He positioned them between his fingers and began practicing the moves he'd developed. Most of them were curving strikes, rather than stabbing moves, so everyone nearby backed off to give him plenty of room while he practiced.

Once he was done, he walked over to one of the kids who was also practicing.

"Hey, Dosu, wanna spar?" He asked.

"Sure, if you fight with blunted knives," the boy said, eyeing Naruto's weapons warily. Naruto chuckled as he put away the sharp knives and then took out blunted ones. He and Dosu took up positions facing each other, then they both charged each other. They fought hard, and both of them sustained a lot of injuries. Of course, Naruto's wounds healed up quickly due to Kyuubi's chakra. Dosu was forced to dodge more often than block, due to the extra weight and force granted by Naruto's weapons.

After half an hour, Dosu called a halt to the match, and they both bent over, panting heavily as sweat poured down their backs.

"Good job," Naruto told him.

"Thanks," Dosu replied. "You too."

XXXXX

After getting a shower and lunch, Naruto returned to his room to read scrolls. He had been given permission to take some of the lesser scrolls to his room to continue reading about chakra control. He generally read while sticking to the ceiling, giving himself practice with controlling chakra effectively even while he was focusing on reading about complex things like controlling different chakra types.

XXXXX

Three years later

"You two are to fight to the best of your ability," The teacher announced. "You may use any techniques you happen to know, including Kinjutsu. The fight ends when one of you dies or forfeits. Understand?"

"Hai," Naruto answered him.

"Hai," His opponent said.

"Then begin," Sakon declared, before leaping out of the way. Both boys took up a fighting stance in the middle of the ring.

"Don't take this the wrong way, Dosu, but I'm gonna kick your ass all the way to Suna," Naruto taunted his opponent.

"Don't get cocky kid, I'll make you go crying back to Konoha," Dosu retorted. Naruto growled as he took out his chakra metal knives. He hated being reminded of Konoha.

Dosu made the first move, pulling back his sleeve to reveal a plate of armor with holes in it that was strapped to his arm. He punched at Naruto, only for the boy to crouch down and swing up at Dosu's arm with his left hand, focusing wind chakra into the knives. Dosu quickly emitted a large burst of chakra from his feet to push himself off balance and avoid the blow. The two boys jumped away from each other, eyeing each other warily.

"Y'know, I'm almost sorry to do this to you," Naruto called to him. "You're one of the few people I count as a friend. So I'll give you a chance to back out. If you just forfeit to me now, I won't kill you." Dosu laughed.

"Don't try to act tough. I know your limitations, so don't try to bluff me. Even if you go all out, I'm confident I can hold my ground against you."

"Well then, why don't we test that?" Naruto asked mockingly. He flipped his knives out from between his knuckles so he was holding them between his fingertips. "Let's see how well you can dance!" Naruto yelled as he threw two of his knives, charging them with wind chakra. A sharp blue aura formed around them as they spun through the air, headed for Dosu. The boy leaped out of the way and Naruto threw more knives. Dosu continued jumping and dodging them, but two of them nicked his left arm, causing little spurts of blood. After that, luckily, Naruto ran out of knives.

"Well that was a complete failure," Dosu mocked him. "Now you don't have your weapons. So whatcha gonna do?"

"Watch and learn, dickhead," Naruto snapped as he began weaving signs. Dosu stiffened in surprise and prepared to leap out of the way. His eyes widened when he saw that Naruto had gone through over ten signs and was still going.

_What technique could he have learned that requires that many signs?_ He wondered.

"Fuuton! Renkudan!" Naruto exclaimed. He held his hand out with the palms facing Dosu and concentrated a spinning ball of wind chakra in front of each palm. An instant later, they flew at Dosu at incredibly high speeds. Dosu jumped out of the way and avoided the actual jutsu, but when they hit the wall behind him, the explosion sent him flying toward Naruto. The blonde-haired boy ran forward and punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground. Naruto whipped a kunai knife out of his pouch and put it to Dosu's throat. Dosu growled.

"I forfeit."

"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!" Sakon announced.

"Cocky little brat, ain't he," Sakon's brother Ukon commented.

"Which one?" Sakon asked.

"Both of 'em, actually."

"Ku ku ku, well done, Naruto-kun," Everyone in the dojo turned around at the sound of the voice and started in surprise when they saw Orochimaru walking toward the Jinchuriki. Naruto looked up, panting for breath and sweating from every pore in his body. The Renkudan was powerful, but at his age it used up most of his chakra reserves.

"Thank you, Orochimaru-sama."

"I have decided to make you my official apprentice from now on," Orochimaru informed him. "I shall spend a great deal of time teaching you one-on-one, and you shall be privy to great secrets and techniques."

"Like what?" Naruto asked excitedly. Orochimaru grinned.

"For example, how would you like to be able to summon snakes?" Naruto's eyes grew wide as he heard that. He had once seen Orochimaru summon one of his snakes before, and he had been deeply impressed.

"You mean, I can sign the summoning contract?" Naruto asked. Orochimaru nodded and Naruto's grin almost split his head in half. Orochimaru chuckled; if Naruto knew half the things he would be learning, he wouldn't think twice about summoning.

XXXXX

Four years later

XXXXX

A twelve-year old Naruto grinned as he saw the silver-haired teenager approach Orochimaru. He gave Kabuto a bright smile and a friendly wave, which the spy returned with an angry glare.

"Hello, Kabuto," Naruto greeted him. He deliberately did not use an honorific, as a way of reminding Kabuto that he was above him in both power and station, and that the boy couldn't do anything against him.

"Hello, Naruto," Kabuto returned the greeting coolly.

"You know, I'm second in command here. Shouldn't you be talking to me more respectfully than that?" Naruto asked him, still grinning. Kabuto's glare could have burned a hole in tempered steel, but it had no effect on Naruto.

"Hai, Naruto-sama," Kabuto ground out. Naruto almost laughed in his face.

"Kabuto, what do you have to tell me?" Orochimaru asked curiously.

"Orochimaru-sama, Uchiha Sasuke has graduated from Konoha's ninja academy. He has been placed on a team with two other Genin his own age, and they have been designated team seven, under Hatake Kakashi.

"The mirror ninja?" Naruto inquired, raising an eyebrow. Kabuto nodded.

"I see. What of his teammates?" Orochimaru asked.

"One of them, as per tradition, is the dead last of their year, and the other is an average kunoichi. Neither one of them are any threat."

"Neither is the Uchiha," Naruto commented. "Some of the other Uchihas were good enough to graduate years early, Sasuke is only twelve years old, and he's probably got no more than one jutsu."

"You wouldn't have been any better off if you had stayed there," Orochimaru reminded his apprentice. Naruto nodded, grinning broadly again.

"Yeah, but I came here," He reminded them. "And now I'm way stronger than any old Genin."

"Ku ku ku, so you are," Orochimaru agreed.

Flashback: One year ago

Naruto and Orochimaru stood atop the hill, looking down at the small fishing village. It was nothing special; just another village that caught and sold fish to sell to the nearby villages of Fire country. However, this particular village was special in that it was unguarded enough to be easily attacked without fear of shinobi resistance. The villagers didn't care, since they didn't have enough to be afraid of an attack. That, however, was exactly what the two shinobi were counting on.

"You know, of course, that I will be ready to step in at any time," Orochimaru reminded him.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sensei, but I don't think I'll need any help with this."

"Very well. Go ahead then." Naruto performed a Shunshin and appeared on the very outskirts of town. There wasn't even anyone there to notice him. Well, they would all notice him in a few minutes.

Naruto pushed back the right sleeve of his jacket, revealing a snake tattoo that wrapped around his forearm. He raised his left hand to his mouth and bit the thumb, drawing blood that he swiped down the tattoo. He then slapped his right palm down on the ground, pouring chakra into the jutsu, and called out, "Kuchiyose No Jutsu!" With a massive puff of smoke, he found himself riding atop the head of one of two huge snakes. "Eat as many people as you can," he ordered them as he drew his sword while ignoring the screams of the villagers. They hissed happily as he performed another Shunshin, this time appearing on the other side of the village. He arrived at the docks, startling the hell out of the fishermen there. He watched as the two snake summons began running rampant, crushing buildings and eating people.

"Hey!" One of the fishermen yelled at him. "Who are you?"

"I have more than one name," Naruto informed him. "But to you, I am one thing, and one thing only."

"Oh yeah? What's that?" Another fisherman asked as he picked up a knife.

"Death," Naruto answered simply. A second later, the man's head had been separated from his shoulders, and Naruto was standing behind the villagers, placing himself between them and the village. The sword he held in his right hand had a blue aura around it, extending several inches from the edge of the blade, and about half a foot from the point. The sword itself had a single edge like a katana, but it was longer and broader than any katana. Not only that, but the backside of the blade was perfectly straight.

The villagers gaped in astonishment as they saw their friend's headless corpse crash to the ground while his head landed in the ocean. The boy in front of them attacked, swinging his massive sword around and easily killing them each with one strike.

As soon as the fishermen were all dead, Naruto released the wind chakra around his broadsword and then put it away. He then turned his attention to the village and relaxed, allowing his chakra to rein free, unchecked and unrestrained. A red aura exploded outward and surrounded him as his whisker scars thickened and his fingernails lengthened and turned into claws. His canines also lengthened, adding a bestial appearance to his face. He took off at a run toward the village. His summons had already destroyed a good third of the village, but that left plenty for him to take care of.

Every villager he met was knocked out with a punch to the chest or head. Not a single one of them was killed, despite his great power. In all honesty, he used the red chakra because it was fun, not because he needed to. All in all, it took him half an hour to go halfway through the village, where he met his summons. "Thank you for your assistance," He told them. "I'll take care of the rest myself." He sent them away with a thought, and they dispelled in a burst of smoke. Naruto quickly went through the rest of the village, using his sense of smell to find the remaining villagers and hunt them down.

Once everyone had been beaten, he made a hundred Kage Bunshins to scatter and drag all the villagers to the center. About twenty minutes later, there was a veritable pile of them in front of him. He took out a single scroll and unrolled it, revealing many sealing designs. Most of them had the kanji for 'human' and 'one hundred' on them. He made a long string of handseals and then performed a jutsu. With a large puff of smoke, about half the villagers vanished, and one of the seals in his scroll was now full. He did it again, and was left with twelve people, who he sealed into separate spaces in his scroll.

XXXXX

"Well?" Orochimaru asked as Naruto returned to him at the hilltop. His apprentice grinned.

"Every villager was either killed or captured. The mission was a complete success," Naruto informed him. They both turned their attention to the village, which was currently burning thanks to some of his powerful fire jutsus. Orochimaru grinned in approval.

"Good job, Naruto-kun."

End Flashback

"You are my strongest subordinate, and you will play a key part in my plans for Konoha," Orochimaru said happily.

"I'm well aware," Naruto said.

"You are also aware, of course, that I desire Sasuke's Sharingan," Orochimaru stated. "Therefore, when Kabuto informs us of their first mission outside of the village, you must go to spy on them and determine how powerful Sasuke is becoming."

"Understood," Naruto assured him.

XXXXXXX

Three months later

"Naruto-kun," Orochimaru called to his apprentice. Naruto focused more wind chakra around his knives and tore the last training dummy to shreds with one swipe. He put away the weapons and turned to his sensei, raising an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sensei?"

"It is time. Uchiha Sasuke and his teammates are going to Wave Country on a mission."

"Very well. I'll leave as soon as I can get packed up," Naruto told him, already walking out of his private dojo.

XXXXXXX

He swiftly packed his equipment up and prepared all of his weapons. He then put on all his gear and headed out of the base. He had memorized the mission objective months in advance, and he had already planned out his course of action. He set off for Wave Country as fast as he could go, which was pretty darn fast.

XXXXXXX

Hatake Kakashi groaned as he opened his eye. He glanced around the room and noted that all three of his students were there.

"Sasuke, Sakura, Kiba," he called to them. They all looked over at him quickly.

"Hey, you're awake!" Kiba exclaimed happily.

"Where exactly are we?" Kakashi asked.

"We're at Tazuna-san's house," Sakura answered. "We only got here a few hours ago, and we've been waiting for you to wake up."

"I see." Kakashi sat up, groaning as his head pounded. "Listen up. I think we've made a mistake."

"What kind of mistake?" Kiba asked.

"That hunter ninja who killed Zabuza. I don't think he was a real hunter nin."

"Why not?" Sasuke asked calmly.

"Two reasons: One, the weapons he used are senbon, acupuncture needles. A skilled shinobi can use those to place someone in a near death state, without actually killing them. Two, hunter nins are supposed to eliminate the bodies of those they capture immediately, without waiting. He picked up Zabuza's body and sword, which must have been quite heavy, and took them away. From those two points, it seems likely that the boy actually rescued Zabuza, rather than killed him."

"Oh, you're kidding me!" Kiba exploded, pounding his fist on the ground. His dog, Akamaru, started barking loudly. "After that huge fight we went through to beat him the first time, now we've got to fight him _again_?! This is ridiculous!"

"Calm down, Kiba," Kakashi implored his student. "Now all of you, listen up. The next fight will be to the death. Zabuza and his partner will be fighting us together, and neither one will show any mercy. We'll have about a week, while Zabuza recovers from being sent into a near-death state. During that time, I'm going to give you three a training exercise, so that you'll be better prepared for the fight. It's too late now, but in the morning I'll get you started on it. Understood?" All three Genin nodded, and Akamaru barked once.

XXXXXXX

Naruto walked casually through the streets of Wave Country. Or rather, he _appeared_ to walk casually through the streets of Wave Country. Both hands were carefully placed next to open weapon pouches, and even though he was keeping his chakra under control, he was always ready to release it and fight, if necessary.

_This country,_ he thought to himself, _is being truly crushed by Gato's company. I'm sure Orochimaru won't mind if I kill the man, as long as I bring back some of his money as well. It's the least that can be done for these people._ Naruto had a habit of relating other people's bad situations to his own. The people of Wave County, he reflected, were being unfairly hurt and wounded, both physically and emotionally, just as he had been when he lived in Konoha, before Kabuto had taken him to Otogakure. Therefore, he decided, he would do what Orochimaru had done, and give these people what they deserved, which was their land and freedom.

_First things first though, _he reminded himself. _I need to find the Uchiha_.

Five minutes later, after asking a few people and losing a few coins, he found himself silently observing Tazuna's house, where the team of leaf ninja were staying. He had made a few Kage Bunshin to spread out throughout the city and try to gather information, but he knew that observing the last Uchiha was the top priority, so he had decided to do the job himself. After all, failure to complete the mission would result in a _very_ upset Orochimaru, which would probably result in a very hurt Naruto, fox chakra or no.

The door to Tazuna's house opened and Naruto's eyes focused on the four people walking out. He immediately recognized Hatake Kakashi, who was currently on crutches, and Uchiha Sasuke. He recognized the boy in the jacket as an Inuzuka, judging by the little white dog riding on his head, but he didn't realize that the pink-haired girl was a shinobi until he saw her headband.

_What kind of shinobi has pink hair?_ He wondered to himself. _Not to mention such a monstrous forehead._ He shook his head, clearing away those scary thoughts, and began carefully and quietly tailing them. He mentally thanked Orochimaru – again – for the extensive lessons on suppressing his chakra signature, as he saw the mirror ninja glance over his shoulder, as if he could hear Naruto.

They ended up in the woods, where Naruto watched Kakashi demonstrate tree climbing to his students.

_What the hell? They don't even know tree climbing?_ He was astounded that any hidden village would have shinobi who didn't even know an exercise that simple. He'd mastered tree climbing and water walking at the age of six, and had gone on to master even more difficult chakra control exercises.

He watched with amusement as the three Genin got to work training. He almost gave away his position when he came very close to laughing out loud as he saw Sasuke fail to even climb fifteen feet up the tree.

_And the Uchihas are the elite of the ninja world? I guess he got all the wrong genes then. Let's just hope he'll acquire the Sharingan._

XXXXXXX

Naruto soon grew bored watching them. Sasuke and the Inuzuka, who he'd learned was called Kiba, were very slowly getting better at it, but they had yet to top twenty two feet. The pink-haired girl, whose name was Sakura, had been able to climb to the top the first try, but her chakra reserves were so low, she could only do it two more times before she collapsed at the bottom of the tree, sweating and gasping for breath.

_Okay, this is just ridiculous. I can't stand to watch this anymore, and I can't let the Uchiha continue to be such a failure._

With that thought in mind, he leaped down from his hiding spot, and into the clearing where the three Genin were training.

Merry Christmas! I had a few of these chapters done earlier, but I decided to give my fans a better Christmas gift. Enjoy!


	3. Wave Country

Sasuke and Kiba spun around quickly as they heard someone landing on the ground. Sakura just tiredly turned her head to look at him. They all eyed him with a mix of suspicion and curiosity.

He wore a long white cloth wrapped around his head over and over, covering everything but his eyes, which were obscured by thin black sunglasses. He also wore a long sleeved white shirt that seemed too large for him, under which they could see a black fishnet shirt, and black cargo pants. On his feet he wore typical black ninja sandals. Over everything, he had a light gray cloak that went down to just below his knees.

"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded.

"I don't feel like telling you my name right now," Naruto answered.

"Why not?" Kiba growled.

"Because, information is power. I see no reason to hand you that information for free. All you need to know is that I have great power."

"Oh really?" Sasuke asked cockily. "And why should we believe that?" Naruto gave him a look that, even through the head wrappings and sunglasses, was clearly very disparaging. Without saying a word, he began walking backward, ignoring the Genins confused stares. Those stares quickly changed into amazement as he walked _backward_ up the trunk of a tree, without slowing his pace at all. When he was ten feet above the ground, he jumped forward and flipped once, landing on his feet in front of them.

"Do you believe me now?" He asked Sasuke. The Uchiha grunted.

"So what do you want?" Kiba asked.

"I wish to help teach you," Naruto replied.

"Why?" Sakura asked the obvious question.

"Because I do not like what Gato is doing. I myself probably could not defeat Zabuza, his apprentice, and all of Gato's thugs, so I must make you stronger in order to increase my own chances of taking care of Gato."

"So you're using us to further your own ends," Sasuke stated.

"Be glad you're even good enough for that," Naruto retorted sharply. "However, our aims coincide; we both wish to deal with Gato and Zabuza, although you are doing it for the sake of your mission while I am doing it because I want to. It only makes sense to work together, to an extent. Surely you are not resistant to getting stronger." They all glanced at each other hesitantly.

"Can you come back tomorrow after we talk to our sensei?" Sasuke asked. Naruto shrugged.

"Sure, that's fine." He turned around and waved goodbye over his shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow at nine then." He leapt into the trees and vanished before they could say anything.

XXXXXXX

Naruto scowled heavily as he sat down at the edge of the forest, leaning against a tree. He had discovered, much to his displeasure, that there was not a single ramen shop in the whole of Wave Country.

"What kind of a country is this?" he wondered aloud. He gave a deep sigh before settling himself cross-legged and mentally dispelling all of his Kage Bunshins. The next thirty minutes were spent in deep concentration as he sorted through all the memories that he had received.

There were only four important things: Zabuza's apprentice apparently had some kind of power to make ice, if what Gato's thug had said was true. Gato had no shinobi other than Zabuza and his apprentice. Gato had, in the past, made deals with shinobi and then stabbed them in the back to avoid paying them. Gato would probably lose all his power over Wave Country if Tazuna completed his bridge to the mainland. However, Gato would still have plenty of money from other sources.

Naruto nodded to himself as he came to a conclusion about what to do.

_That should work, even if Hatake refuses to let me teach his students._

XXXXXXX

Kakashi frowned as he saw their potential ally waiting for them in the clearing. He was exactly as his students had described, and he was quite surprised to notice that the man felt completely devoid of chakra. That could only mean that he was constantly and totally suppressing his chakra to make himself impossible to detect. He wondered briefly if someone who was forced to resort to that could be trusted.

_Well, I'll hear him out,_ he decided. He was annoyed that he had to use the crutches to get around, but he had no choice.

"I'm Hatake Kakashi," he introduced himself, holding out his hand. The man shook it firmly.

"I've heard much about the famous Copy nin," he said. "As I already told your students, I prefer to keep my own name a secret. I have certain enemies, you see, and I'm currently in hiding from them."

"I can accept that for now. What should we call you?"

"Nanashi," was the answer.

"'No name,' huh?" Kakashi translated the name. The man in front of him nodded silently. "All right. My students said you want to teach them because Gato and Zabuza are also your enemies."

"That's correct," 'Nanashi' confirmed. "I wish to get rid of Gato in order to free Wave Country, and your fight with Zabuza will provide me the opportunity to get inside his hideout and deal with him. Of course, I need Zabuza and his apprentice to be occupied for as long as possible. Thus, it is in both of our interests for me to train your students while you are incapacitated." Kakashi nodded.

"Yes, that does make sense. Only assuming, however, that you are a powerful shinobi."

Nanashi vanished.

An instant later, he was standing behind Kakashi with a kunai held to his throat.

"Are you satisfied?" he asked calmly.

"Yes," Kakashi answered, equally calmly. "All right, go ahead and train them. And thank you, by the way," he added.

"No need to worry, I'll probably make them strong enough to survive the fight," Nanashi said dryly. Kakashi sweatdropped.

"Well… thanks," he said lamely. "I'll be at Tazuna's house." He left.

"All right, now then, time to get to work," Nanashi told the Genin, smiling sadistically under his head wrappings.

XXXXXXX

Sasuke and Kiba collapsed on the ground in front of Nanashi. Sakura had collapsed long before the two of them, and she was currently sleeping.

"I thought you were trying to help us," Kiba growled at their new teacher. Akamaru growled weakly.

"I am," Nanashi replied bluntly. "I'm not the sort to go easy on people. Understand?" They nodded weakly.

He had started off by testing them with a three on one fight, like they'd had against Kakashi. Like then, they had been thoroughly schooled. After that, he had stated that they were sorely lacking in speed, strength, chakra control, and chakra reserves. So, they had been set to running a makeshift course through the forest until they collapsed. Every time they started to slow down, he would appear out of nowhere and start chasing them with a kunai. At first, Sasuke had thought he wouldn't really hurt them with it. That idea vanished when he received a good-size cut across his upper arm.

Sakura had fallen to the ground shortly after the first hour. Sasuke and Kiba had both ended up running for over two and a half hours, until Kiba's legs just gave out from beneath him and he collapsed. Sasuke had then tripped over him and was sent sprawling.

"That's enough running for today," Nanashi said as he handed them each a canteen full of water. The two boys eagerly grabbed it and started chugging water. Nanashi walked over to Sakura and poured a little water in her mouth. She instantly woke up, coughing and spluttering.

"So, what next?" Kiba asked as Nanashi handed Sakura her canteen.

"I'll give you a ten minute break to get ready for the next exercise," Nanashi began. "Then, we'll get to work on increasing your physical strength. We won't make much progress within about a week, but every little bit counts, and it will also help to increase your chakra capacity. After that, you'll do chakra control exercises."

"But Nanashi-sensei," Sakura protested. "If you make us work as hard as we just did, we'll barely have any chakra to use for tree walking!"

"You won't be doing tree climbing, and I'm counting on you not having much chakra. You need to be able to draw upon as much chakra as you can and you need the ability to control it even when you're almost ready to collapse. Understood?" They all nodded. For the next ten minutes, the three Genin sipped their water and waited in silence. They all kept shooting glances at their sensei, who was leaning serenely against a tree, his face invisible through his wrappings and sunglasses.

"Where are you from?" Sasuke spoke up after a few minutes.

"That's classified information," Nanashi stated. Sasuke scowled at him.

"Why aren't you wearing a hitai-ate?" He asked.

"Classified information."

"Why not just go into Gato's hideout and kill Zabuza now while he's injured?"

"Classified."

"Why won't you answer any of my questions!?" Sasuke snapped, jumping to his feet and yelling at the man.

"Because it's fun," Nanashi told him. Sasuke looked ready to knock him out.

"Stop upsetting Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled at him. Nanashi threw her a disparaging look.

"Why? Am I hurting his feelings too much? Can he not stand being treated like a normal Genin?" His voice was loaded with sarcasm and disgust.

"I'm not a normal Genin," Sasuke told him imperiously. "I am Uchiha Sasuke, last heir of the Uchiha clan."

"Good for you," Nanashi said with undisguised sarcasm. "You're a fucking Genin, so get over yourself. I'll tell you this much: I know at least four shinobi who are around your age and who could kick your ass in a fight. You're nothing special, so stop acting like your blood changes that." The three Genin all stared at him in shock. None of them had ever seen Sasuke being so bluntly put down and belittled.

"Oh really?" Sasuke asked. "Then why didn't you bring along these friends of yours who are supposedly so much stronger than me."

"Classified information," Nanashi told him dryly. He smirked as he saw the Uchiha clench his fists and level a glare full of hatred and killing intent at him. He brushed it off; the brat had nothing on Orochimaru-sensei. "Anyway, time's up. We need to keep training," he told them.

XXXXXXX

He had them spend two hours struggling to carry large and heavy stones from one pile to another. It was quite demeaning work, even for a Genin, but it forced them to use their muscles as much as possible, and then some. After that, Nanashi gave them another ten minute break and a water canteen. This time, they were all too tired to start a conversation. At the end of the break, he leapt up to a low hanging tree branch (which was still over twenty feet off the ground) and plucked off four leaves. He landed heavily and walked over to them, holding out three of the leaves. They each took one, looking at it skeptically.

"What's this for?" Sasuke asked.

"Training," Nanashi answered. He placed the fourth leaf in the palm of his hand and focused on it. His hand glowed blue and the leaf floated off his palm and hovered a few inches above it. "This is what you are going to do. It is difficult, because too much chakra blows the leaf away and too little adheres it to your hand. You must learn to constantly regulate how much chakra you are using. It may not be quite as good as tree walking, which requires you to control your chakra without being able to see how close you are to the goal, but it is still helpful and it can be mastered faster. Get to work," he told them, dropping his leaf and walking over to a tree. He sat down in its shade, watching them expectantly. They all hid their sighs as they started trying to levitate the leaf.

XXXXXXX

An hour later, they were still trying. Sakura would normally have done great, but her chakra reserves were so low that she was having trouble gathering it together, resulting in that she either couldn't draw enough chakra to lift it or else she would gather too much chakra and send it flying away. Sasuke and Kiba were having difficulty using a small enough amount of chakra to keep it from flying away.

Nanashi sighed and stood up.

"You're all hopeless," he told them bluntly.

"What?!" Sasuke yelled while Kiba and Sakura leveled glares at him.

"I said you're hopeless. You'll probably end up killing yourself before you actually do anything of worth."

"It's not like this is easy, you know!" Kiba snapped at him. Nanashi jumped up and plucked six leaves off of a branch. He placed one on each fingertip and the sixth on his palm. His hand glowed as they all lifted up at the same time.

"It's quite easy, if you have any talent," he told them disdainfully. "You have to focus. You can't just unleash your chakra at it or you'll do nothing at all. _Focus_," he stressed. "You can't allow anything to distract you. Clear your mind of worries and questions and anything else and focus on nothing but your chakra. Then use just enough of that chakra to lift the leaf up without blowing it off of your hand." He let his six leaves flutter to the ground as he crossed his arms and stared at them as if to say, 'I'm waiting'. They all closed their eyes and tried to focus on just their chakra. After a few minutes, Sasuke opened his eyes and focused his gaze on the leaf. His hand glowed blue as the leaf lifted up slowly. In a few moments it was about half a foot over his hand.

"Lower it," Nanashi ordered. Sasuke furrowed his brow and tried to reduce his chakra output, but he only succeeded in losing the chakra flow and making the leaf fall to the ground. "Not bad," Nanashi admitted. "You're done for today, Uchiha." Sasuke blinked in surprise, then smirked cockily. Kiba opened his eyes at that point and attempted to lift his leaf. It floated an inch or so over his hand for several seconds, then fluttered away. "Again, not bad," Nanashi told him. "You're also done, Inuzuka." All three of them turned to Sakura. She opened her eyes and tried to lift it, but she was far too nervous. It fluttered up for a moment then fell back to her hand. She tried again, but she couldn't get it to stay in the air. "I believe that you have the necessary control but you lack the chakra reserves to do it right now. You can stop for today as well." She sighed in relief and dropped her leaf.

XXXXXXX

After that, Nanashi sent the Genin back to Tazuna's house and told them to get as much sleep as possible that night, while he went off on his own. Kakashi was quite surprised to see how exhausted his students were, until Kiba and Sakura started complaining about what Nanashi was making them do. To their shock, Kakashi was unsympathetic.

"I'm not a very strict teacher, clearly," he told them. "You should enjoy this chance; you probably won't be trained this rigorously for quite a while. He knows what he's doing, and he'll make you a lot stronger before we have to fight Zabuza and his apprentice." Sasuke seemed slightly appeased by the fact that he was being made stronger, but the other two – three including Akamaru – were still annoyed.

XXXXXXX

The rest of the week was spent in the same fashion as that first day. Nanashi trained them all just as harshly as before, but they began to see improvements by the third day. They all ran for a long time, and they only needed a few minutes to rest afterward. They were able to lift the large stones and carry them much more easily, and both their chakra capacity and control increased to the point that the leaf only flew away every now and then, instead of most times. By the sixth day, Sakura could run for almost two hours and the boys could run for about three hours. The stones felt almost half as heavy as they had at the beginning, and they hardly ever lost control of the leaf.

"Zabuza and his apprentice will probably be ready to fight us tomorrow, and if not then, they will certainly attack the next day," Nanashi informed them. "So, tomorrow, you are to guard Tazuna-san at the bridge along with your sensei. After he is done working, if Zabuza has not attacked, then you will come here to train under me. Understand?" They all nodded. "Good, go back to the house and get ready." Sasuke and Sakura turned around to leave, but Kiba stayed where he was and spoke up.

"Nanashi-sensei, do you want to come have dinner with us?" He asked. His teammates wheeled around, staring at him in shock, while Nanashi didn't move.

"Are you sure you want me to come?" he asked them. "I'm not the most social person in the world."

"Yeah, well neither is that little brat Inari," Kiba grumbled. "He keeps crying and wailing just because his dad got killed by Gato and he's too much of a wuss to do anything about it." Nanashi raised an eyebrow, then smiled under his mask.

"All right, I'll come eat with you. But I won't stay very long. I have work to do afterwards."

XXXXXXX

Tsunami was surprised to see the new arrival, but she quickly smiled and welcomed him. She'd heard the kids complaining about their new and mysterious teacher, but she had already seen that Sasuke and Sakura were getting stronger and more muscular, and she was quite grateful to Nanashi for helping the ninja who were protecting her father. Inari looked at him a bit weirdly, and Tazuna was startled for a moment because his wrapping were reminiscent of Zabuza's, but he fit in quite well. He helped Tsunami make the dinner and then they all sat down to eat. The Konoha ninja waited curiously for him to undo the wrappings around his head and reveal his face. However, he quite simply pulled down two strips of white cloth to make a hole for his mouth while keeping his face hidden. They made small talk as they ate, and the dinner was quite enjoyable. Then, after Tsunami had cleared the table and Nanashi had pulled his wrappings back into place, they all sat around the table, feeling quite content.

Until Inari began to cry.

"Why?!" he yelled at Nanashi. "Why do you all try so hard when it doesn't matter?! You've been working those three half to death, but it's not gonna make any difference! You're all gonna be killed by Gato's men!" A stunned silence followed his words. Nanashi sighed.

"You… are just a spoiled little brat," he snapped at the boy. "You lose one person and think that your life is over, that nothing else good can ever happen." He stood up sharply. "If everyone acted like that when they lost someone, no one would ever do anything. Everyone has to be able to get over what has been done to them and move on with their life. Otherwise, you'll always be a weak child." He walked out angrily, closing the door sharply behind him. Inari got up and ran out the back door.

"I'm sorry," Kiba said to Tsunami and Tazuna. "I invited him here, I didn't think he would act like that though."

"It's fine, Kiba-kun. I'm upset that Inari said what he did," Tsunami sighed.

Kakashi got up and walked out the door after Nanashi.

XXXXXXX

"That was rather harsh." Nanashi turned around to see Kakashi walking up to him.

"He is rather blind," Nanashi retorted. Kakashi sat down on the dock next to him.

"You've had a bad life, haven't you?" He asked. Nanashi nodded solemnly.

"I am still trying to carve out a better life for myself," he told the man. "I have a lot of hatred for the people who hurt me, and that's been holding me back a bit. I can't move on without getting rid of them."

"So the kid reminds you of yourself, eh?" Kakashi inquired. Nanashi nodded again. "What did your enemies take from you?"

"Everything. My parents, my childhood, my innocence, my friends, my entire life to put it simply. I have a new life, but I only have acquaintances, not friends. I can't get my family back either, or my childhood."

"I see. I'll admit that's a good reason to want revenge," Kakashi said. "As long as you still remember to keep moving forward and make that better life you were talking about, I'm sure things will turn out well for you in the end." He gave Nanashi his weird 'eye-smile', as his visible eye curved down at the sides, making an upside-down U.

XXXXXXX

The next day, Gato was excited. Zabuza was finally ready to go back and finish what he had started. Once the old bridge builder was dead, he would own wave country completely. After he gave Zabuza the order to go and kill his enemies, he leaned back in his comfortable couch and grinned wickedly.

"This is a great business venture, don't you two agree?" He asked his sword-toting bodyguards.

"It sure is, Gato-sama," Zouri agreed.

"Gato-sama, can we go do our mission now?" Waraji asked. "I really want to cut something up."

"Go ahead, just make sure I get a live hostage," Gato waved at the door. The two of them left eagerly. Gato relaxed again, confident that he would have everything he wanted by the end of the day. About a minute later, he thought he heard a scream. Frowning, he got up and walked towards the door. He opened it and looked around to see who was making the noise.

BAM!!

A body flew past him and smashed through a wall. Gato wheeled around, gaping in astonishment, and saw a man standing in the hallway. He was covered from head to toe in white and black clothing. Both arms had several intricate tattoos on the underside of his arm, just below his wrist. But what his attention was really drawn to was the blood that the man was covered in, and the long curved knives he held between his fingers like claws.

"Your time has come, Gato," the man told him, obviously only barely hiding his anger.

"Wait, I can make you a deal!" Gato told him. "I'll pay whatever you want! You can have ten million ryu in cash if you just let me go!"

"You idiot," the man's voice dripped with disgust. "I already emptied your vault. Most of it is going back to the people of wave country, but I took thirty million for myself and ten million for Zabuza, since that is what you originally promised him." Before Gato could say anything, the man vanished. Gato screamed as something ran him through from behind, spraying blood everywhere. He looked down to see the man's clawlike weapons, covered in a blue aura, sticking out of the hole where his heart had been. Blood poured out of him and Naruto yanked his hand out, letting the corpse fall to the ground.

"Time for step two," he said to himself. He put away his knives and ran out of the building, heading for the bridge.

XXXXXXX

Sasuke and Kiba fell to the ground, pierced with needles all over. Akamaru was in a similar state, with needles in his back and even one through his left hind leg. They had put up a great fight at the beginning, all three of them attacking Haku at the same time, and scoring some good hits on him to boot. Then, he had created this dome of ice mirrors and began beating the shit out of them. Sasuke had awakened his Sharingan, but he was already too hurt for it to be of use.

"Dammit," Kiba muttered. "Sasuke, this is it. I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you beat him." They heard a scream from outside the dome and turned to it, worry in both their eyes as they recognized Sakura's voice. "Shit! What's Kakashi-sensei doing!?" Kiba yelled.

"This fight is over now," Haku declared, taking out another handful of needles. "For what it's worth, I am sorry." He vanished and the two Genin closed their eyes, waiting for the pain.

Wham!

Their eyes snapped open to see Nanashi, without his grey cloak and covered in blood, standing over Haku.

"Don't worry Haku," he told the masked boy. "I'm not quite your enemy." The ice wielder stood up, but Nanashi struck him three times in succession, so fast that it looked like one blow to the Genin. He fell to the ground at Nanashi's feet, the ice mirrors turning to water as he lost consciousness. To Sasuke and Kiba's surprise, Nanashi then pulled out a scroll, unrolled it slightly, and wove several hand signs. Haku's body vanished with a puff of smoke as the scroll glowed blue.

"Nanashi-sensei, what are you doing?" Kiba asked.

"I am no longer your sensei, Inuzuka," Nanashi snapped at him. "I only helped you out of necessity, and I see that my time was probably wasted now." He ran into the mist, quickly vanishing from their sight.

XXXXXXX

Kakashi ran at Zabuza, his hand glowing blue and emitting the sound of chirping birds. Held down by his nin-dogs, the mist ninja had no chance of escaping. Kakashi thrust his hand at his enemy's heart.

Whap! Snap!

Kakashi cried out in shock as someone grabbed his wrist and broke it in the same moment. He wrenched his hand free and leapt back. The nin-dogs vanished as the summoning scroll was set on fire. To his surprise, he looked up to see Nanashi standing between him and Zabuza.

"Not quite good enough, Hatake-san," Nanashi said. "This fight is over. Gato is dead and Zabuza no longer has any reason to fight you."

"You killed my employer!? You bastard!" Zabuza yelled, grabbing Kubikiri Houcho off his back and swinging it at his new enemy. The enemy in question spun around and raised one hand. A large sword appeared with a puff of smoke and Nanashi grabbed it and easily blocked Zabuza's wild swing.

"I hadn't thought you cared about Gato that much," he said mockingly.

"Bastard! Now all my work has been for nothing!"

"Get over it." Nanshi stepped forward, maneuvering his blade to push Zabuza's away as he struck with his free hand. Zabuza tried to focus enough chakra to his gut to lessen the impact, but the blow still felt like a sledgehammer. His sword was forced out of his hand and his enemy's sword pierced his foot, nailing him to the ground.

_What the hell? Whose side is he on?_ Kakashi wondered. As he watched, he was healing his wrist with a medical ninjutsu.

Nanashi whipped out his scroll and wove a few hand signs. Zabuza threw a punch, trying to knock him out, but he vanished an instant before the blow would have landed.

"Now that that's done, it's time for me to leave," Nanashi told Kakashi. "Both your students are still alive, so there's no need to worry."

"Wait," Kakashi demanded. "Despite what you've done for us, you are carrying two powerful enemies in that sealing scroll. I can't allow you to leave with that."

"You think I give a shit?" Naruto asked him. "Allow me to clear things up for you. I am your enemy, I was Gato's enemy, and I hope to be Zabuza and Haku's associate. I worked with your students to help ensure that I could kill Gato and wear down Zabuza and Haku enough to make capturing them alive easier. Now that you have helped me, you are once again my enemy. Now leave before I kill you. I'm willing to leave you alive because I don't want to risk you getting your hands on the scroll, but I'm quite willing to kill you." Kakashi settled into a fighting stance and glared at him with the Sharingan.

"You should already know my answer."

"Just wanted to double check." Naruto began weaving hand signs so fast that only Kakashi's Sharingan allowed him to track the movements. He quickly deduced that his new enemy was using a very powerful and complex fire jutsu. The amount of chakra he was gathering was enough proof of that. He ran forward, forming another Raikiri. "Katon: Hihana Benso!" (Fire Release: Fire Flower Defense!) Kakashi could only watch as fire chakra poured out of his body and swiftly formed a elliptical shield around himself. Despite being made of fire, it was clearly recognizable as a flower bud.

"Shit!" Kakashi spun around, dispelling the Raikiri as he ran to where his students had been fighting Haku. He grabbed them by their collars and flung them off the bridge, into the water below. He instantly wheeled around and ran to Sakura and Tazuna. He felt Nanashi's rising chakra levels settle just before he reached them. As he wrapped an arm around each of them, the flower bud opened, sending waves of fire out in every direction, forming a perfect copy of an orange and red flower.

One that spread out in every direction for hundreds of feet.

Kakashi had performed a shunshin just in time to get down to the water with Sasuke and Kiba, and the five of them watched the massive jutsu from below.

"Holy… That was Nanashi?" Kiba asked.

"It was," Kakashi confirmed. "He stopped Zabuza and sealed him in a scroll."

"He did the same thing with Haku," Kiba told him. As they watched, the fire flower vanished. Kakashi sighed.

"By now he'll be gone. I could track him, but I'm too weak. And anyway," he pulled down his headband over his Sharingan. "He _did_ allow us to complete our mission, and he killed Gato as well. We can let him go just this once."

XXXXXXX

That night, Naruto made camp in the middle of the forest. Once he had a fire going, he took out his sealing scroll and wove a set of hand signs. Zabuza and Haku appeared in puffs of smoke. Zabuza had a comical look of surprise as he looked around, whereas Haku was still unconscious.

"Relax, Zabuza-san," Naruto said. He held up a second scroll and wove another string of hand signs. A briefcase appeared in another puff of smoke. "That briefcase has the ten million ryu that Gato promised you. It's yours, take it." Zabuza hesitated, then picked it up and opened it. He quickly leafed through the money and confirmed that it was all there.

"Why would you do that?" he asked the stranger. In response, Naruto undid the wrappings around his head to reveal his golden blonde hair and whisker marks. He then removed his sunglasses, looking at Zabuza with red slitted eyes. Zabuza's own eyes widened in surprise.

"I am in the service of my sensei and master, the Sannin Orochimaru. I think that you would become much stronger under his guidance. And if you wish to one day become the Mizukage, I am sure Orochimaru-sensei would be quite pleased to have one of his own allies in charge of another ninja village. That money is a token of the offer, and to compensate for having killed your employer." Zabuza chuckled.

"Well, if I can still become the Mizukage, I'd be a fool not to accept." He held his hand out to the boy. Naruto shook it.

"Good to have you onboard, Zabuza-san."

Uchiha Lord: I've hit a writer's block with my story, so I wrote some more on my fanfictions. I hope you enjoy it!


	4. The calm before the storm

Orochimaru grinned as he listened to Naruto's report. Zabuza and Haku stood behind him, silent and respectful.

"Well done, Naruto-kun," Orochimaru praised him. "With the money you took from Gato, we shall be able to quickly further our research and speed things along. And we even have two new powerful shinobi."

"Well, I am your apprentice after all," Naruto replied, grinning happily. "If I didn't do well, that wouldn't make either of us look too good, would it?" Orochimaru chuckled.

"Quite true. Zabuza, you wish to become the Mizukage, don't you?"

"That is correct, Orochimaru-sama," Zabuza confirmed.

"I can give you great power and help you along that path, but I require you to remain my follower. You will still become the Mizukage, the absolute ruler of Kirigakure, but you shall do so under my command. Understood?" Zabuza nodded. Naruto had explained this to him, so he had already come to his decision. "Good. Haku, what are your goals?"

"My only goal is to help Zabuza-sama achieve his goal," Haku replied.

"I see. I believe it would be best to give the two of you a certain test. Come with me," he told them, turning around.

"You're going to give them 'the' test, aren't you?" Naruto asked his sensei.

"I am indeed," Orochimaru stated.

"Good luck, you two," Naruto told Zabuza and Haku.

"Thank you," Haku told him, smiling at Naruto. They had spoken with each other a little bit on the way back, and Haku had discovered that Naruto had also been taken in by someone powerful after being persecuted for something inside of him, though Naruto hadn't been specific in what lay within him. However, Haku had begun to feel a bond with the blonde-haired boy.

Naruto waved goodbye to them as Orochimaru led them to a sparring arena.

XXXXXXX

Naruto went to his private dojo and made five hundred Kage Bunshins. They split into five groups of a hundred each and spread out across the huge underground arena to practice different techniques. In short order, he was practicing taijutsu, kenjutsu, fire jutsu, wind jutsu, and fuuinjutsu at the same time. The original went to the library and started looking for anything that would catch his eye. He soon came across a book detailing the origins of the hidden villages. He took it back to his room and started reading it.

XXXXXXX

The same day, in Konoha, Kakashi was reporting to Sarutobi.

"I see. So you have no idea who this 'Nanashi' could be?" Sarutobi asked.

"Well, that would seem to be the case at first," Kakashi began. "Since he constantly suppressed his chakra and left before Kiba or I could track him down. However, when he unleashed his fire jutsu, I was able to get a general feeling of his chakra signature."

"What did you deduce?" Sarutobi asked.

"He's very dangerous. He has almost as much chakra as I do, and," he hesitated, glancing at his students, then looked back at Sarutobi. "I think he might have been a Jinchuriki."

"What makes you say that?" the Hokage asked sharply.

"His chakra reminded me of the Kyuubi's," Kakashi answered. "In fact, I would have said his chakra felt like a weak version of Kyuubi's chakra, except that that's impossible." Sarutobi nodded gravely.

"Well yeah," Kiba spoke up. "The Kyuubi was killed twelve years ago."

_No, not quite that long ago,_ Sarutobi and Kakashi both thought, but didn't say.

"And what's a Jinchuriki?" Kiba asked.

"I'm afraid that is classified information," Sarutobi told him. Sasuke scowled upon hearing that phrase again. "Very well. We shall keep an eye and an ear out for anyone who resembles Nanashi. Is that all?" Kakashi nodded. "You are dismissed then." Kakashi and his students walked out.

Sarutobi sighed and took off his hat, placing it on the desk as he put his head in his hands. The mention of the Kyuubi had made him think of Naruto. The guilt and pain came back to him, just as bad as it was all those years ago when Naruto's mutilated body had been discovered in the slums of Konoha. The corpse had only been recognizable by the blonde hair and whisker scars.

_Naruto, I'm so sorry,_ Sarutobi silently apologized to the boy who had been like another grandson to him.

XXXXXXX

While Sarutobi was mourning his death, Naruto was reading about the history of the Elemental Nations. He had discovered a few important things, such as that the Kyuubi could be controlled to some extent by the Sharingan and Wood Release jutsu. He would need to watch out for Kakashi when they launched the invasion.

"I'm not worried," he murmured, as if trying to convince himself.

"**Of course you're not,"** a mocking voice rumbled in his mind. **"You're the great Uzumaki Naruto, aren't you?"**

"Shut up, Kyuubi," Naruto growled. The fox laughed, then fell silent.

XXXXXXX

The next day, Naruto went looking for Zabuza and Haku. He found them in the hospital, under medical care.

"I'm impressed," he told them as he approached. "You both survived the curse seal?" Zabuza glared at him.

"You could have warned us that we might die the same day we arrived," he growled. Naruto shrugged.

"All shinboi must be ready for death at any time. In any case, if you can survive the curse seal, you'll do just fine from now on."

"Have you got one?" Zabuza asked. Naruto grinned.

"That would be telling," he told the man. "I'm glad you're both okay now. Do you want to spar a little bit?" Zabuza grunted and got out of bed, grabbing his sword.

"That's not a good idea, Zabuza-san," a medic nin stated, walking over to them. "You've already used the curse seal once today. If you use it again it can damage your body faster than normal. You can spar tomorrow, but for today you'll just stay here and not move around." Zabuza glared at him.

"You really think you can stop me?" He asked.

"Actually," Naruto spoke up. "He won't need to. With you this weak I can easily beat you down and tie you to the bed." Zabuza locked eyes with the boy for several long seconds, then sighed and sat back down, propping Kubikiri Houcho up against his bed.

"Fine. Tomorrow, Naruto," he addressed the Jinchuriki.

"It's Naruto-sama," Naruto corrected him.

"What did you say?" Zabuza asked threateningly.

"I told you to address me as Naruto-sama, not Naruto. I am second in command in Otogakure." Zabuza sighed.

"Fine, Naruto-sama," he muttered. "But we'll see if we can change that tomorrow." Naruto laughed openly.

"You're welcome to try," he told the swordsman. "See ya," he waved goodbye to them and left.

XXXXXXX

The next day, Naruto fought Zabuza and won, prompting Zabuza to return to the medics.

"Damn, that brat fights rough," he muttered as they hurried him through the hallways on a stretcher. He was bleeding out of several cuts on his arms and chest, and there was a burn wound on his left forearm. Naruto hadn't used a curse seal, but Zabuza had sensed something dangerous and evil about his chakra, all the same.

XXXXXXX

Five months later

Naruto grinned as he waved goodbye to Orochimaru, Dosu, Zaku, and Kin. The four of them were heading to Konoha for the Chunin exams while Naruto stayed behind to watch over Oto.

"So, Naruto-sama," Zabuza said as he walked up behind him. "Do you want to go spar for a while?" Naruto chuckled.

"All right, Zabuza-san. I'll kick your ass again if you really want me to." They had had a total of nine spars since Zabuza arrived, and Naruto had decisively won every single one of them. Zabuza didn't think he had a curse seal, since he'd never seen any signs of one.

"Actually, Naruto-sama," Haku spoke up, approaching them. "Could you help me with something? I'm trying to learn a wind jutsu right now and it's difficult."

"Sure," Naruto told him easily, smiling at the older boy. Haku had become the closest thing Naruto had to a friend.

XXXXXXX

Kakashi handed his three students the exam forms for the Chunin exams. As he'd expected, Sasuke and Kiba immediately signed their names on theirs while Sakura looked unsure.

"If you decide to participate, report to room 304 in the academy building," Kakashi told them. "And good luck."

XXXXXXX

The next day

Dosu smirked as he saw the Uchiha.

"The target is here," he told his teammates.

"Good thing," Zaku muttered.

XXXXXXX

Naruto groaned mentally as Zabuza activated his curse seal's second state. Short curved horns grew out of his forehead and a row of short spines grew along each forearm. His skin turned dark red and his filed teeth grew, looking much more like fangs. The whites of his eyes became black, and the iris turned yellow. In response, Naruto drew on more of the Kyuubi's chakra, surrounding himself with a light red aura. They charged each other, trading blows with their enhanced speed and strength. After five minutes of this, Naruto made a swift hand sign as he charged, and a wakizashi appeared next to his left hand. He grabbed it on the run and swung it while surrounding it with reddish wind chakra. It sliced through Zabuza's chest, spraying blood everywhere. Zabuza made a counterattack, but Naruto leaped backward, greatly reducing the damage from the blow. He landed on his feet and skidded a few feet as he watched Zabuza's curse seal recede.

"Dammit," Zabuza snarled. He collapsed a moment later. Haku appeared next to him a moment later and began casting a jutsu. He had very good chakra control, so he'd been learning medical jutsu recently. In just a few minutes, the cut was completely closed.

"You can't keep fighting though," Naruto told him as he walked forward, all his chakra suppressed again.

"I know, your chakra is like poison," Zabuza grunted as he got up. "Fine, but I'll beat you next time." Naruto grinned widely.

"Only if you get lucky."

"We'll see," Zabuza said as he headed for the showers.

XXXXXXX

In Konohagakure's Forest of Death

"This is actually somewhat disappointing," Orochimaru commented as he fought Sasuke. "My apprentice was ten times better than you when he was nine years old."

"Yaaahhh!" Sasuke screamed mindlessly, trying futilely to kill his enemy. Orochimaru easily avoided every wild kunai swipe and punch.

"Enough," he hissed. His tongue shot out and wrapped around Sasuke's leg. He swung the Uchiha around, throwing him against a tree and stunning him for a moment. "Well, I suppose you're good enough to receive my gift." His neck extended and he moved forward, biting down on Sasuke's neck. He let go to see the Ten No Fuuin appear where he had bitten.

_Goood,_ he thought as he watched Sasuke begin screaming in pain. _The first half of my plan has already been successful. Now, Naruto-kun, we shall prepare to finally have our revenge._

XXXXXXX

One month later

Naruto growled slightly as he arrived in Konoha. He was currently in disguise as Dosu's sensei, in order to enter Konoha without being caught. The finals of the Chunin exams would occur in just two days time, and Naruto needed to be ready. He looked around with a bored look on his face, hiding his growing anger as he saw the village he had hated since childhood.

_I'll be quite glad to see this place burn,_ he thought angrily.

XXXXXXX

Two days later

Naruto smiled slightly as he sat down next to Sarutobi. Thanks to his disguise, he looked exactly like the Kazekage.

_The time has come, Orochimaru-sensei,_ Naruto thought. _Konoha shall pay for wronging us both. _

He watched the finals of the exams. Hyuuga Neji easily defeated Kiba by using the Kaiten to deflect Gatsuuga and turn the strength of the attack back at his enemy. Then, Sasuke fought against Gaara. Naruto watched with interest as the Uchiha demonstrated the ability to use Kakashi's signature Chidori technique, piercing Gaara's sand orb and apparently cutting him. Then, Sasuke jumped back to avoid Shukaku's arm.

_Dammit, that's not good,_ Naruto thought as the sand orb collapsed, revealing Gaara clutching his bleeding shoulder while glaring at Sasuke with a deranged look on his face. _In this state, I don't think he has the focus to transform. No other choice, I guess._ He leaned forward as if enraputred by the fight and made a very discreet hand signal. After waiting a few moments, during which Gaara began screaming death threats at Sasuke, Naruto made his move. With the speed of a striking snake, literally, he whipped out a kunai and threw it at Sarutobi's bodyguard, a man named Raidou. He caught it, but with a puff of smoke it turned into Orochimaru, who grabbed the man by the neck and threw him against the wall, knocking him out. At the same time, Naruto pulled out a second kunai and put it to Sarutobi's throat.

"Who are you?" The Hokage growled as he glanced around. Kabuto having seen his hand signal, had already performed his genjutsu, knocking out all the civilians and most of the inexperienced Genin and Chunin in the crowd. Sound ninja were shedding their disguises all around the stadium, and Gaara's teammates jumped down to him. Naruto calmly made a Kage Bunshin, which rushed over to a certain sound ninja.

"Haku," the Kage Bunshin said as it reached the boy. "I need you to heal Gaara's wound so he can transform properly."

"Hai," Haku replied. He vanished in a blur of motion and reappeared next to Gaara. After a quick explanation, he began healing the wound on Gaara's shoulder.

In the meantime, Sarutobi was still glaring at Naruto. The boy responded by reaching up and tearing off the Kazekage mask and veil, as well as tossing aside the hat. Under it, he wore the same concealing outfit that he'd had in Wave.

"You are that Nanashi that Kakashi met, aren't you?" Sarutobi growled at him.

"It's been a long time," Naruto began as he reached up. He pulled the bandages wrapped around his head off, revealing his golden blonde hair. Sarutobi gasped loudly.

_No,_ the Hokage thought, _It couldn't be._

Naruto pulled down the bandages around his face, revealing three scars on each cheek, tan skin, and small fangs. He removed his sunglasses to reveal his red, slitted eyes.

"Jiji," he finished his sentence.

Uchiha Lord: I know, I'm evil. I promise to update the next chapter as soon as it's written. I'm having trouble with chapter two of my other story, so my fanfictions will be seeing more progress for a while.


	5. The Destruction

"Naruto?" Sarutobi whispered, shocked.

"Yes," Naruto replied calmly.

"But, but why?"

"That's my question," Naruto retorted, now getting angry. "Why didn't you do anything for me when I was younger?"

"What do you mean?" Sarutobi asked. Naruto growled angrily.

"I mean, why the _hell_ did I have to grow up in a place where everyone around me hated my guts and wanted me dead!?" he screamed. "You could have stopped that! You could have not told anyone that I had the Kyuubi! You could have given me a new identity, or told them who I really am!" Sarutobi glanced swiftly over at Orochimaru, who was smirking as he listened to his student yelling at his sensei.

"What do you mean, who you really are, Naruto?" Sarutobi inquired.

"I'm the son of the Yondaime!" Naruto screamed at him. "You could have told them that! Maybe then I would have gotten a little respect! Maybe they would have treated me like a normal human being, or at least not spat at me and told me to die! It's your fault that they did that! You're their leader, you could have prevented it all from happening!"

"I might have been able to, yes," Sarutobi admitted sadly. The same things had been weighing on him for the past seven years, since Naruto's supposed death.

"Then why didn't you?" Naruto growled, finally lowering his voice.

"Because I would have faced opposition from almost everyone around me. The council would have wanted to keep your real identity a secret to keep you safe from your father's enemies, and to prevent tarnishing your father's name with your status as a Jinchuriki. I would have had to force them to allow me to acknowledge you as Namikaze Naruto, and then they would have all started trying to undermine me and get me thrown out of my office." Naruto stared at him for several long moments as he tried to comprehend what he had heard.

"You mean, you didn't do it because you wanted to keep your job?" he asked in a low, dangerous voice. Sarutobi nodded, slowly and sadly. Naruto stared at him in stunned silence for several more moments before finding his voice again. "Bastard," he growled. He spat at Sarutobi's feet. "'You cared more about your name as the Hokage than about me. Well I hope you're happy; now that I'm in Otogakure, I have everything that was denied to me here. I have a reputation, a position, people who respect me, who like me, and even a few people who I think I could call friends. So I have no regrets about helping Orochimaru-sensei burn this damned village to the ground." He stood up as Orochimaru moved forward, wrapping an arm around Sarutobi's throat and putting his own kunai against it. The two of them leaped up to the roof, followed by the 'Kazekage's' two bodyguards. Naruto noticed a pair of ANBU leaping towards them. As soon as they were in range, there was a blur of steel and the two ANBU found their swords cut in half and deep slashes in their arms. The five of them landed on the roof and the bodyguards split apart, becoming the sound four.

"Naruto," Sarutobi called out as Naruto turned away. "I'm sorry," he told the boy sincerely, his voice laden with guilt.

"I'd say it's a little too late for 'I'm sorry', wouldn't you?" Naruto growled at him. With that, he leapt away. Both Sarutobi and Orochimaru noticed a teardrop fall to the floor where Naruto had been standing, but neither one of them said anything.

XXXXXXX

Naruto wiped away his tears as he headed to the far side of the village. He heard a massive roar behind him and turned around to see the full Shukaku rise up in the stadium. At the same time, he saw a purple box appear on top of the roof, surrounding Sarutobi and Orochimaru. A few moments later, he landed on top of a building and stopped. He pulled off his grey cloak and let it fall to the floor. He then bit his thumb and swiped it down the summoning tattoo.

"Kuchiyose No Jutsu!" he announced, slapping his hand down. He called on the Kyuubi's chakra to perform the jutsu, and Manda appeared beneath him, flattening half a block. "Hello, Manda-sama," Naruto greeted the snake.

"Hello, Naruto-san," Manda returned the greeting.

"I have your hundred sacrifices," Naruto told him, pulling out a scroll. Manda narrowed his eyes at the boy.

"Something seems off about you," he hissed. "What's happened?" Naruto scowled.

"I just found out that the one man I thought cared about me when I was a child cared more about his job than he did about me," he explained.

Manda frowned. Since he'd been born, he had known four separate holders of the snake contract. Naruto, however, was the only one he could say he actually liked. The boy was always respectful, and unlike Orochimaru, he fought side by side with the snakes he summoned, instead of having them fight for him, as Orochimaru did. He also gave him sacrifices without any complaints.

"You know, since there are so many little people for me to eat here, I shall allow you to forgo giving me sacrifices this time," Manda told the boy.

"Thank you, Manda-sama," Naruto replied gratefully, bowing to the snake. "If you don't mind, I need to go kill people somewhere else now." Manda chuckled.

"Very well. Have fun, Naruto-san." Naruto vanished and Manda looked around at his surroundings. The screams and the taste of fear was strong, and it was making his mouth water. Including the fact that these people had hated and scorned his favorite summoner when he was younger, and Manda was quite happy to start eating them alive.

XXXXXXX

Naruto stopped when he arrived another part of the village. The stadium, Manda's location, and the spot he was at now formed a triangle that covered most of the village.

"Katon," he announced, extending all five fingers of his right hand. Small spheres of fire burst to life at each fingertip. "Hihana Shuriken!"(Fire Flower Shuriken) Each small sphere expanded into a flower that was slightly bigger than a normal shuriken. He swung his hand, sending the flowers spinning down into the street. A few civilians got struck, and they were quickly running around screaming as they tried to put out the flames. _You'll have lots more to worry about than that,_ he thought as he jumped down into the street. "Fuuton," he wove about a dozen hand signs in a few seconds and then clapped his hands together. "Oto Myaku!"(Sound Pulse) A high-pitched sound wave spread out in all directions. Every piece of glass within a hundred yards shattered, and everyone who was too close fell to the ground, clutching their bleeding eardrums. Naruto laughed, then began weaving more hand signs. "Fuuton: Renkudan!" Red chakra poured out of the seal and flowed down his arms, forming a pair of wind spheres that were as big as his chest. He fired them in opposite directions, blowing down buildings and sending bodies flying away. He began laughing as he continued weaving signs. "Katon: Hihana Daishuriken!" A large fire flower bloomed in the palm of his hand and he threw it, catching a group of civilians on fire as they tried to crawl away. He continued laughing even as he looked over at a group of leaf ninja that were running at him. He ran to them and swung his hand. In mid swing, his claws appeared in a puff of smoke and he surrounded them in wind chakra. The blades extended a good half a foot, catching his enemies by surprise and tearing into them. With two swift moves, all four leaf nin were lying on the ground in their own blood. His laughter increased as he looked around. Finally, at long last, he was able to repay Konoha for what they had done to him! His claws vanished in another puff of smoke, then he began weaving hand signs for one of his strongest offensive jutsu. "Katon," he began as he drew up more of the Kyuubi's chakra. "Hihana Taihou!" (Fire Flower Cannon) He held his hand out with the palm facing away, toward the center of the village. A sphere of fire coalesced in his palm and started growing bigger as he poured chakra into it. As soon as he saw two squads of leaf nin heading for him, he unleashed his jutsu. The flower bloomed and expanded forward, turning into a pillar of fire that enveloped the leaf nin and wiped them out before they even had time to scream. An ecstatic, slightly insane grin covered his face as he sensed three chakra signatures behind him. He began turning to face them only to find himself suddenly unable to move.

"Bubun Baika No Jutsu!" (Partial Expansion Technique) Before Naruto could try to break free of whatever was holding him down, a gigantic fist was aiming a punch at him. He felt himself being freed just in time for the punch to be landed, sending him flying back into a building.

"Nice shot, Choza," Yamanaka Inoichi told his teammate as Akimichi Choza's fist returned to its normal size. Naruto pulled himself out of the rubble and looked at his new enemies.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you three are Yamanka Inoichi, Akimichi Choza, and Nara Shikaku, right?"

"That's correct," Shikaku confirmed.

"Very well. I have heard that the three of you are quite powerful, so I will not waste time with weak attacks against you." He made a hand sign and focused. Before their eyes, red chakra flowed out of his seal and wrapped around him, forming a shroud in the shape of a fox, complete with fox ears, claws, and a tail of red chakra that swung behind him. "Now come!" he yelled, rushing at them.

XXXXXXX

Zabuza was grinning happily as he tore through his enemies. After that Gaara kid had transformed, he and the rest of the sound ninja had left the stadium and spread out across the village, slaughtering anyone from Konoha. Zabuza and Haku had stuck together, and they were currently butchering anyone who came near them. So far, they hadn't even used the Kirigakure No Jutsu, or their curse seals. Zabuza grinned as he saw two Jonin land in front of him.

"You there," he pointed at one who was wearing a bandanna. "You were the judge at that tournament just now. What's your name?"

"Shiranui Genma," the man stated.

"Enough talk," the woman next to him growled. She pulled out her katana and ran at Zabuza, momentarily surprising him with her speed. He brought up Kubikiri Houcho in time to block her first sword strike as she attempted to decapitate him.

"You seem pretty angry," he said teasingly as they both jumped back a few feet. "Why would that be? You've never even met me before."

"Shut up!" she yelled at him. "You're working with that snake Orochimaru. That's enough of a reason for me to kill you."

"Haku, why don't you take care of that other guy?" Zabuza suggested as he took up a stance with his zanbato.

"Hai," Haku agreed. He and Genma locked gazes, then all four shinobi charged.

XXXXXXX

Naruto growled as he was forced to avoid Shikaku's shadow again. He had to be very careful, or else even his enhanced strength may not be enough to break the jutsu in time. Choza and Inoichi charged at him from opposite directions, with Choza enlarging both arms and Inoichi covering a kunai in water chakra to make an elongated sword blade. Naruto smirked as he prepared himself. He ducked low, avoiding Inoichi's sword slash, and at the same time extending his arm toward Choza. The chakra cloak pulled back from his arm as a long green snake shot out from under his sleeve and wrapped around Choza, constricting and bringing him to a halt. With a roar, Naruto swung his claws at the Akimichi clan head. Unfortunately, he had underestimated the man's strength, as Choza was able to throw himself backward enough to only receive large cuts across his chest, instead of having his heart torn out. Naruto spun around to deal with Inoichi only for a shadow to wrap around him and pin him down. Inoichi swung his water chakra blade again, aiming for Naruto's head. Just before it struck, Naruto opened his mouth wide. The water blade struck the chakra cloak and stayed there, unable to pierce it, but too strong to be broken. At that moment, a long red snake came out of Naruto's mouth and slithered down the blade at lightning speed. Inoichi was able to shut off the water blade just in time, causing the snake to fall to the ground.

"Baika No Jutsu!" Behind Naruto, Choza, who had gotten rid of the snake, swelled up. "Nikudan Hari Sensha!"(Spiked Human Bullet Tank) He announced as he tucked his arms and legs into his clothes. His hair expanded and wrapped around him as he began rolling across the ground. Naruto was fully aware that to receive a direct hit from that jutsu would be bad news, even for him.

"Shunshin No Jutsu," Naruto declared. There was a slight ripping sound, then Naruto vanished and reappeared a few feet away. The increased speed granted by the Shunshin had given Naruto enough force to tear himself free from Shikaku's shadow jutsu, but Choza was still bearing down on him. He jumped up as a sphere of fire burst to life in the palm of his hand. It expanded into a large flower and Naruto threw it at Choza. As he'd expected, the Akimichi's high-speed rotation had blown the flames off without any trouble. He landed behind the large man and made a hand sign. A Fuma shuriken appeared in a puff of smoke and he spun around, hurling it at Choza while wrapping it in wind chakra.

"Choza, turn!" Shikaku yelled. The Akimichi heeded him, rolling away as Shikaku rushed forward and pulled out his tanto. He wrapped it in his shadow jutsu and hurled it with incredible accuracy, stabbing the shruiken's shadow and slowing it down enough for Choza to avoid it.

"Impressive," Naruto said, and sounded as if he actually meant it. The red snake he'd spat at Inoichi slithered over to him and he picked it up. With a puff of smoke, it transformed into a long bladed katana. Naruto immediately wrapped it in red chakra. "But I'm learning how you work now." He charged at Choza, who was barreling toward him at full speed. As soon as he saw Shikaku's shadow approaching, he jumped up, and then threw the sword like a spear. Shikaku and Inoichi both yelled warnings, but it was too late for Choza to slow down. The red chakra pierced his chakra-hardened hair and impaled him. With a scream of pain, he ended his jutsu and collapsed on the ground, the sword sticking out of his back, just below his heart. Inoichi began forming signs as Naruto fell. The Jinchuriki smirked, then extended the right arm of his chakra cloak and grabbed onto a building, pulling himself up to the roof and throwing the Yamanaka off for a moment. He finished his hand signs and aimed at Naruto, but by that time the Jinchuriki was standing firmly on top of the building and was ready to dodge. Inoichi canceled his jutsu, not wanting to be left vulnerable.

"You're very good," Naruto complimented them as the sword transformed back into a snake and started slithering over to him. Shikaku threw a few shuriken, and Naruto immediately dispelled the snake before it could be killed. "I suppose I have no choice then," he told them. Their eyes widened as they felt a great surge of demonic chakra coming from him. A second fox tail slowly grew out of the cloak, and when it was fully formed, they judged his chakra to be approximately twice what it had been before. Choza pushed himself up and Inoichi hurried over and started healing the stab wound. Shikaku made a hand sign, ready to try and catch Naruto, if it was possible.

"So, just who are you?" he asked casually. Naruto chuckled.

"Take a wild guess," he told the man.

"My first thought would be Uzumaki Naruto, but he died eight years ago," Shikaku stated.

"No, not quite. It was just a body double that was killed eight years ago. I escaped this hellhole and found a place that I could call home," Naruto informed him. Shikaku narrowed his eyes.

"So, that red chakra would be the power of the Kyuubi," he guessed. Naruto nodded.

"That's right. You should really feel honored; I've only had to use two tails against Orochimaru-sensei before now."

"Orochimaru!?" Shikaku was stunned. "He's your sensei? You would actually trust that snake!?"

"He's given me power and a place where I belong," Naruto said. "Which is more than I can say for all of you."

"You were five years old at the time," Shikaku reminded him.

"Does that mean I couldn't have friends, or someone who was at least willing to accept me without spitting at me?" Naruto growled at him. "It's too late anyway, Otogakure is my home and it will remain so. Today, Orochimaru-sensei and I will repay the wrongs that have been done to us."

"The wrongs done to you?" Shikaku repeated slightly incredulously. "I'll admit you could have been treated a hell of a lot better, but Orochimaru was never wronged!" Naruto shrugged.

"I actually agree with you there. As a matter of fact, I believe that he should have taken a different path than the one he did. However, he is my sensei and he believes himself to have been wronged. Since you also treated me like dirt, I'm quite happy to help Orochimaru-sensei kill you." Shikaku sighed. Choza and Inoichi moved to his side, ready to continue fighting.

"I see. In that case, Uzumaki Naruto, there is no longer any point in talking. Our beliefs cannot be reconciled, so we have no choice but to fight."

"And only the victor will remain alive," Naruto stated, crouching down and preparing to spring. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio tensed, ready to move. None of them were prepared for Naruto to vanish from the rooftop and appear in front of them. They all started to attack only for Naruto to vanish again. They spun around as they felt his chakra behind them, then again as it reappeared where it had been a moment before. His claws struck Choza, tearing through his armor and cutting his chest and stomach while sending him flying backward. Inoichi and Shikaku both started a jutsu only for Naruto to vanish. He appeared on top of the roof where he'd been just a few seconds before.

"Dammit!" Shikaku cursed. "He's way too fast for us."

"No," Choza grunted as he forced himself up again. He took something out of his pouch and lifted it up. "I can fight him, even at the speed he's moving right now." He popped something in his mouth and chewed it a few times before swallowing. Naruto raised his eyebrows as he sensed the Akimichi's chakra increasing.

_Food pill of some kind, I assume,_ he thought. He lunged at the large man, claws outstretched and ready to tear him apart. He quickly moved behind the Akimichi, then to his side as he struck, hoping to take him by surprise. He was the one taken by surprise as Choza swung his fist, hitting him on the side of the head and sending him flying away, crashing into a building. A snarl rose in his throat as he threw the rubble off of himself.

"That was quite foolish of me," he told them. "I should have been better prepared for something like that." He charged Choza again, and danced around the man for a few seconds before attempting to claw at his head from behind. He was met with a mule kick to the gut that sent him flying into another building. He growled again as he got up. "I suppose that was my own fault again," he admitted. "Well, I won't make the same mistake again." For the third time, he started moving all around Choza, looking for an opening. "That food pill you ate has made you faster and stronger, a fearsome thing when added to your already significant skills. However," here he suddenly moved away from Choza. Before any of his enemies could react, there was the sound of tearing flesh and of blood splattering to the ground.

Naruto watched with the eyes of a satisfied predator as Inoichi's corpse fell to the ground, spilling blood everywhere. He glanced at the head that he held in his hand and smirked before tossing it aside like a piece of trash.

"Everyone has a weakness," he finished.

"YOU GODDAMNED BASTARD!!" Choza screamed. He ran forward and threw a full power punch at Naruto, expanding his fist as he did so. Naruto vanished a moment before the blow landed. Choza wondered where he'd gone for a moment before he felt a sudden pain in his arm. He looked down to see Naruto lying on his back, holding up his hands. Several long, black-and-yellow striped snakes had come out from under his sleeves and had their fangs buried in Choza's arm. They released him and Naruto vanished in a blur of speed as Choza's arm returned to its normal size and he clutched the small wounds.

"Choza!" Shikaku ran forward, his voice filled with worry.

"It's fine, it doesn't even feel like it's poisoned," Choza waved away his friend's concern as he turned to face Naruto, who was standing some way down the street. The striped snakes had crawled out of his sleeves and were now curled around his neck, their heads swaying slightly over his shoulders. Shikaku and Choza counted a total of six.

"You were foolish to allow your emotions to get the better of you," Naruto reprimanded Choza. The man glared at him with so much hatred and killing intent that even Naruto raised his eyebrows in surprise at it.

"I don't want to hear that from a cold hearted bastard like you," he spat out at the Jinchuriki.

"My personality is dependent on your perspective," Naruto stated. "How many people have you killed over the years? You participated in the third great ninja war, I know your record of having killed several hundred rock nin, just the three of you. Do you really think your enemies saw you any differently than you see me?"

"Enough talk," Shikaku stated. He was holding himself back, but just barely. He was furious at the boy, and he wanted to slaughter him to avenge Inoichi. Any pity he had felt for Naruto earlier was gone, replaced with hatred.

"A pity," Naruto said. "I rather enjoy talking to my prey. But if you want to end this battle quickly, who am I to refuse?" He vanished and reappeared several yards behind them. As they spun around, a cloud of smoke enveloped his upper torso for a moment, then a Fuma Shuriken came flying out of the cloud, aimed for the two leaf nin. Shikaku, who had picked up his tanto earlier, used it to deflect one shuriken, only for a second one to be revealed right behind it. He and Choza only barely managed to duck it, only to then see a third shuriken coming at them, only a foot off the ground. Shikaku was able to spring up and dodge it, but when Choza tried to jump, his legs were suddenly unable to lift him off the ground, and the shuriken cut deep into his arm before clattering to the ground. He clutched the wound, grimacing in pain.

"What happened?" Shikaku asked as he landed on the balls of his feet, ready to move again if it proved necessary.

"You made a dangerous assumption," Naruto said as the smoke cloud cleared to reveal him standing there with a satisfied grin. They both noticed that three of his snakes were no longer there. "You see, my little friends here are most certainly poisonous. These are kraits, one of the most venomous snakes in existence. However, unlike many other venomous snakes, their poison does not leave the burning sensation that experienced shinobi like yourselves associate with poison. The krait's venom holds neurotoxins, which severely hamper the body's neurotransmitters, preventing your neurons from sending signals to each other. Therefore, your body begins to become paralyzed."

"That's ridiculous!" Choza yelled. "There's no way the poison could have had an effect like that in less than a minute!"

"In normal circumstances, that would be true. However, these kraits have been trained to channel my red chakra. I simply infused their venom with some of that chakra, which itself acts like a poison. Put the two together, and the effects of the venom come into play much faster, and with much greater force. Before long, your whole body will be paralyzed."

"Dammit," Shikaku muttered. He knew what would have to be done, and he didn't like it. Unfortunately, there was no other choice. _Yoshino, my dear, I am sorry for leaving you without even a proper goodbye. Shikamaru, please do not allow your anger to consume you over this. _

"Choza," he spoke calmly. "You have to use the red food pill." Choza looked at his friend and comrade for a moment, then nodded. His hand refused to work for a moment, but he forced himself to take out his container and put the red pill in his mouth. Naruto watched with interest as he chewed it up and swallowed. Before the Jinchuriki's eyes, the Akimichi's chakra suddenly shot through the roof, actually becoming visible. What appeared to be a pair of blue butterfly wings made of chakra formed on his back. All his fat was consumed, leaving him looking a little odd in his now oversized red clothes. Then, he vanished with as much speed as Naruto. The Kyuubi container had no chance to defend himself before a chakra enhanced fist smashed into his gut and sent him flying. This time, he went straight through a building and crashed into the one behind the first.

_Well shit,_ he thought. _Note to self: when a tactical genius tells his partner to do something while fighting you, kill him before he can do it. _

He picked up a large, flat piece of stone that had fallen next to him and hurled it like a Frisbee at the oncoming Akimichi. Without even pausing, Choza plucked it out of the air and crushed it. He tried to throw another full power punch at Naruto, but his arm suddenly refused to move properly, resulting in a badly thrown punch. Then, even more shockingly, Naruto caught his fist, although the blow should have still been able to break a boulder. Choza was stunned as Naruto's chakra levels rose yet again. The red chakra cloak took on a slightly darker tinge as red marks spread across Naruto's body, starting at his right arm and covering his entire body. The marks stopped spreading and became black; they were curved and spiky, and looked for all the world like tattoos. Then, Naruto threw a single punch that struck Choza in the gut. Normally, the Akimichi clan head would have shrugged it off, as the amount of chakra that he'd gotten from the red food pill would be enough to block or severely dull most physical attacks. However, Naruto's punch drove all the air out of Choza's lungs. A second blow to the face sent him flying back to Shikaku.

"You're not the only one with tricks up his sleeve," he told them as he walked forward. Shikaku began weaving signs, but Naruto wasn't going to stand around and do nothing anymore. The Nara clan head was just able to dodge his swift claw strikes until Choza got back to his feet and attacked Naruto from behind. Naruto turned to him and ducked under the first punch only to be kicked in the stomach and sent skidding across the ground. He smirked as he got back to his feet.

"I don't see what's so amusing about this," Shikaku growled. All of a sudden, he felt a sharp pain in his ankle. He looked down to see one of the kraits biting him. He instantly whipped out a kunai and threw it, impaling the snake, which vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Too late," Naruto said happily. "Now you're both infected, which means my job got a lot easier." With a puff of smoke, two of the kraits that were coiled around his neck turned into katana. He grabbed them and charged at Choza. He came to a sudden halt about six feet away and the katana in his right hand transformed into a spear, which he threw at Choza. The clan head sidestepped it, only for Naruto to tomahawk his other katana. Choza just barely avoided it, then charged at Naruto. The Jinchuriki readied himself to finish off the Akimichi, only to hear a slight 'thunk', and find himself paralyzed. Before he could try to break free, Choza hit him three times in rapid succession, once in the face and twice in the gut, sending him flying for the fifth time.

"For heaven's sake," Naruto growled. "Can you stop knocking me into these fucking buildings!?" he yelled as he pushed himself to his feet. He grimaced as the Kyuubi's chakra quickly healed his broken ribs. He looked to where he'd been standing and saw Shikaku's tanto stuck in the ground. _Shuriken Shadow Possession, I assume._

"If you don't like it, then I'll just kill you," Choza growled at him. Naruto smirked.

"I think I'd rather just kill you so you can't do it anymore," he said. He attacked Shikaku again, forcing the shadow user back for a moment before Choza caught up to them and tried to flatten Naruto. All of a sudden, his body seized up and refused to move. Naruto, who seemed to have been expecting this, turned and dealt him a mighty blow to the chest that tore through skin and muscle and sent the Akimichi flying. The huge amount of chakra he'd gained from eating the pill was beginning to dim. "The venom has taken effect now," Naruto said. "You can no longer send signals to your muscles. It will wear off in a minute or two, but then things will get even worse for you. I'd give you about an hour to live, tops, even if I should fail to kill you myself." He turned back to Shikaku and attacked again. To his complete surprise, Shikaku only moved a little bit, allowing Naruto's claws to pierce his chest, but missing his heart and lungs. He hacked up blood, then whipped out a manriki-gusari(a long chain with a weight attached to each end) and flicked his wrist expertly, wrapping it around Naruto's arms and pinning them together. He wrapped the end of the chain around his hand to hold Naruto where he was as he began weaving signs.

"I wish things hadn't come to this," Shikaku said sadly. "But I have no other choice. Kage Eizou No Jutsu." (Shadow Reflection Technique) To Naruto's shock, a large dark form lifted up off the ground. Glancing down, he saw that it was connected to both his and Shikaku's feet.

The Shadow Reflection Technique was the greatest jutsu in the Nara clan's repertoire. To date, it had never failed to kill its target. It required the user's natural shadow to be touching the enemy's, without having its shape changed at all, but as long as that requirement was met, the two shadows came together and turned into a shadowy version of the victim which struck with the same amount of force that they themselves had. That fact that it had the same strength was what made it unbeatable, but it could require a huge amount of energy from the user, sometimes resulting in a coma, or even death. Shikaku was certain that the jutsu would consume the rest of his strength and kill him, but to him it was a sacrifice worth making.

Naruto watched as the dark form took on a fox-like shape and raised a claw to attack him.

_I have no idea if this will work, but I have no other choice,_ he thought. Shikaku's eyes widened as Naruto's chakra rose even higher. The dark fox attacked, but Naruto broke free of the chains and met the attack with his own. For a moment, they were locked in place, then Naruto started pushing back. The dark form seemed to put even more strength into its attack, as it began to push back.

"I will not fall to you," Naruto growled. Shikaku watched as a small sphere of red chakra gathered just above Naruto's hand, then blasted forward at the shadow fox. With a roar of sheer ferocity, Naruto poured all his strength into the claw that was locked against the dark fox's. To Shikaku's utter disbelief, the shadowy form seemed to break, separating into two forms that retreated to the ground.

Naruto collapsed, sweat pouring out of his every pore. Shikaku suddenly heaved up blood and bile and collapsed next to Naruto. He lifted his head just enough to see the boy properly.

"H-how?" he asked. "That thing should have had the same amount of strength as you."

"I got stronger," Naruto explained. "I didn't know that it would work, but I assumed I had nothing to lose." He got to his feet and Shikaku stared at the new form.

Naruto's skin had turned dark red and looked to be thicker than human skin. His hands had turned into large, thick claws with several serrations and a short hook at each fingertip. His blond hair had grown into a long orange mane that reached down to his waist. His teeth had become fangs that looked capable of biting through stone. His irises were the same as before: red with a black slitted pupil, but the white part had turned black. Then his gaze was drawn to the strangest part. On each of Naruto's forearms was a kind of protrusion. It looked kind of like a small cannon barrel had grown out of his arms.

"If I had to guess, I would say that that thing was created with the power I had when you first cast it. But since I became stronger after its creation, I was able to kill it."

"Dammit," Shikaku growled.

"You lost, but you have pushed me farther than anyone else ever has," Naruto complimented him. "I haven't used the second state since first acquiring it. You three were the best challenge I ever had." He lifted one arm, aiming the mouth of the barrel at Shikaku. A small sphere of red chakra built up in front of it. "Farewell, Nara Shikaku." With a roar, the red chakra sphere blasted out at the genius, killing him instantly. Naruto turned to Choza, who was still lying on the ground, paralyzed. "I assume you heard what I told your friend," Naruto told the Akimichi. "Now, I say farewell to you as well." A second red chakra cannon destroyed Choza's head.

Naruto smiled. _I'm glad I got to fight them. They were truly a remarkable challenge._

XXXXXXX

Zabuza grinned as he and the female ANBU jumped back again. Further down the street, Haku was locked in combat with Genma.

His enemy, Uzuki Yugao, was quite annoyed with how their fight had gone. She had expected to be able to beat him with relative ease, given her speed and lighter weapon. She'd been given a rude awakening when Zabuza was able to wield his zanbato with as much or more ability than she wielded her katana. He had also been able to keep up with her speed quite well, though he wasn't quite fast enough to go on the offensive. They had both landed some light hits on each other with their blades, but neither was about to stop fighting.

"That's enough," Zabuza said. "I'm going to wrap this fight up now."

"Don't try to bluff me," Yugao spat at him.

"I'm not bluffing," he told her. At that moment, his chakra rose as red ovular marks spread out across his face and down his arms. Dark purple chakra surrounded him as he gave her a fang-toothed grin. Then he ran at her, surprising her with his increased speed. He slashed at her head and she raised her katana to block it. Just before the blades clashed, he twisted his zanbato away from her and spun on his heel, even as he continued moving forward. Before she could react, he swung his sword again, this time cutting deep into her side. She gritted her teeth against the pain and slashed at him with her katana but he blocked it with a kunai. He yanked his sword out of her and swung again. She ducked under the blow and tried to stab him in the heart, but he pushed aside her sword blade with the metal bracers he wore on his forearms. He moved forward and brought his knee up, slamming it into the wound his sword had just made. She yelled in pain and fell to the ground. "Nice knowing you," Zabuza told her, grinning maliciously at her. With one swing, her head was severed. He reached down and took her cat mask off her face, stowing it in his weapons pouch. "Souvenir," he told himself as he turned to see how Haku was doing. As he watched, a few dozen ice spears appeared out of thin air and attacked Genma, who was being held down by Haku. At the very last moment, Haku vanished into an ice mirror and Genma was impaled by the spears. As the ice melted and Haku reappeared, Zabuza saw that he too had activated his curse seal.

"Shall we continue, Zabuza-sama?" Haku asked.

"You bet," Zabuza said happily. "Let's see who else we can kill."

XXXXXXX

Naruto closed his eyes and focused. The curse seal deactivated, returning to its original mark on his right biceps. The red chakra cloak retreated back into the seal, leaving him in his Jinchuriki form.

"Why not use that power to desstroy the village?" one of his kraits asked as he slithered up to Naruto.

"I could," Naruto admitted. "But I wouldn't be able to fight for more than a minute before losing all my strength. Fighting Choza and that last shadow jutsu took a hell of a lot out of me, so I have to stick with this. As it is, I probably won't last five more minutes before I have to stop and leave." He took up a stance and began weaving hand signs. "So let's make the most of that time." The two remaining kraits slithered up his legs as he finished his jutsu. "Katon: Hihana Benso!" He poured a good amount of the Kyuubi's chakra into the jutsu, resulting in an enormous fire flower that spread out for nearly a quarter mile. He heard several explosions as his jutsu struck various restaurants, igniting the cooking oil. The jutsu died down to reveal burned and blackened rubble all around him. "This is what I've been waiting for," he said, rather calmly. He ran closer to the center of the village, stopping when he reached the edge of the destroyed area. He bit both thumbs deeply enough for his blood to run down his hands, then began weaving hand signs, facing toward the outskirts of the village, as he assumed most of the villagers would be running away right now. "Tajuu Kuchiyose No Jutsu!"(Mass Summoning Technique) He slapped his hands down, and with a massive explosion of smoke, thirty apartment-sized snakes appeared. "Let's go," Naruto said, his 'claws' reappearing in small puffs of smoke. The snakes followed as he ran forward.

XXXXXXX

Orochimaru smirked as he rammed his Kusanagi blade through Sarutobi's chest. The old man had been more of a challenge than he'd expected, even somehow dispelling the first two Hokages, but Orochimaru had gotten him in the end.

"I am sorry, Orochimaru."

Before the serpent Sannin could respond, his whole body suddenly became icy cold. He drew a shuddering breath and looked up to see a dark figure appearing behind his old sensei.

XXXXXXX

Naruto slashed another leaf nin into pieces with his claws. All around him, the huge snakes were eating people and crushing people. One of his kraits had been dispelled by a lucky shuriken, but the other was wrapped protectively around Naruto's neck.

"Naruto-sssama," it hissed suddenly. "Orochimaru-sssama's barrier has fallen." Naruto turned in the direction of the arena and saw that the large purple barrier was gone.

"Time to go then," he stated, sealing his knives back into the seals in his fingers. "I'll leave this place a parting gift though." He ran to one of the large snakes and jumped in front of him. "I need to borrow some chakra!" He told it.

"Very well," the snake said, lowering its head to Naruto's level. His eyes closed as Naruto placed a hand on his nose and focused. After a few moments, Naruto dropped his hand and stepped back.

"Thank you," Naruto said respectfully, bowing his head for a moment. As the snake turned away to continue on its rampage, Naruto took a deep breath and focused. "Tiger, Snake, Dog, Dragon," he murmured as he made the hand signs. He clapped his hands together loudly and announced the name of his jutsu.

"Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei."


	6. Aftermath

Uchiha Lord 15: I was quite surprised how many people assumed that Naruto had summoned the Yondaime. Honestly, do you really think I would do something so predictable?

XXXXXXX

"Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei."

As Naruto finished the jutsu, four wooden coffins rose up out of the ground in front of him. The lids fell open and the inhabitants of the coffins stepped out, looking around in confusion. Naruto jumped over the coffins and landed in front of the four people.

"Who are you?" One of them asked Naruto. He was a tall man with brown hair, black eyes, and a slightly arrogant appearance.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto," he introduced himself.

"That demon brat?" one of the other three asked with contempt. Naruto looked at the speaker and sent him a glare loaded with killing intent that made him back up a couple steps.

"That's right," Naruto confirmed.

"You died though, a few years ago," the man argued.

"Incorrect. My death was faked. Now then, I have no time to waste. You are Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Mikoto, and Uchiha Kagami, right?"

"Yes, that's true," the tall man, Fugaku, confirmed.

"Very well. I have resurrected the four of you to do one thing: you will kill as many shinobi and civilians of Konoha as possible."

"Absurd!" Fugaku yelled. "Why should we obey some brat!"

Shunk, shunk, shunk, shunk.

The four Uchihas started in surprise as Naruto threw a kunai into each of their heads. Rather than killing them, the kunai sank into their bodies and vanished from sight.

"The seal tags attached to those kunai will force you to obey my orders," Naruto told them. "Now then, get to it. If you're lucky, Fugaku-san and Mikoto-san, you might even get to see your youngest son." Both of them felt horror clutch at their stomach as they realized what Naruto was saying. "After all, he is a halfway decent Konoha Genin now, so you might run into him." He turned around, fully aware of the psychological anguish he was causing them. "Have fun," he told them.

He leapt into the air and headed for the village walls as quickly as possible.

Less than a minute later, he caught up to his sensei and the Sound Four, who were also heading for the wall. All of a sudden, the five of them stopped dead and twisted their heads around frantically. A black-haired woman stepped out of hiding and walked up behind them with a kunai in her hand. Naruto's blood ran cold as he realized what had happened: Orochimaru and his bodyguard had been captured by a genjutsu.

XXXXXXX

Orochimaru glared hatefully at the woman as she seemed to emerge from the tree that was holding him and his bodyguards.

"Die, Orochimaru," she hissed as she drew back her kunai and swung it at his neck. He opened his mouth, prepared to spit out his Kusanagi blade and block her, but he stopped when the kunai was brought to a halt as a hand grabbed the blade firmly and held it at bay. Orochimaru and his would-be assassin followed the hand and the arm it was attached to see Naruto standing there.

"I know he's not a candidate for the most popular person in the world, but it's kind of rude to try to kill my sensei while he's running away," Naruto remarked as he grimaced in pain.

"Oh, and using the Chunin exams to launch a sneak attack isn't rude?" she retorted.

"That's just your own fault," Naruto stated, still ignoring the fact that the kunai was coming dangerously close to cutting off his fingers. "Honestly, do you really believe you can become one of the strongest ninja villages and act like you do, then expect everyone to leave you alone?"

"What's so wrong with the way we act?" she snapped at him.

"Simple, you act like you're good upstanding people who believe in honor and justice, but when it comes down to it you're just like any other ninja village; those with power can do whatever they want."

"We do have justice here!" Kurenai spat at him.

"Really?" Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "You became highly distrustful of the Uchiha clan based on nothing but suspicion and the possibility that they caused the fox's attack. You allowed a child to grow up hated and scorned because of something he had no control over. And you also gave a boy every possible privilege just because of his birth, even though he's no better than a normal person, or even worse. Where exactly is the justice and honor in all of that, hm?"

"Naruto-kun," Orochimaru hissed in annoyance from behind his student. "We're still trying to escape, in case you forgot."

"Oh yeah, sorry sensei. I'll finish things up here." With a puff of smoke, one of Naruto's knives appeared in his free hand and he swung it, wrapping it in wind chakra as he did so. As Kurenai had still been holding the kunai, she wasn't able to react fast enough to dodge. The blade tore through her throat and she fell to the ground, dead.

"If you're quite done, let's go now," Orochimaru said. He suddenly grimaced as pain shot through his arms again.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked concernedly.

"Don't worry about it, I'll explain later." Naruto nodded his agreement.

"All right, I'll take point. Jirobo, Kidomaru, you two stay right behind me and be ready to crush or capture anyone who gets in our way. Tayuya and Sakon, you two stay next to Orochimaru-sensei and keep him safe, got it?" Naruto asked. They all nodded.

"Hai, Naruto-sama," Sakon confirmed. In a blur of motion, the six of them left.

XXXXXXX

Manda's eyes narrowed as Gamabunta appeared in a huge explosion of smoke. Jiraiya stood atop his head.

"This time I will kill you, you old toad," Manda hissed.

"Thanks Jiraiya; I've been wanting a snakeskin wallet for a while," Gamabunta told his summoner.

"Let's end thisss," Manda hissed, coiling himself up to strike.

XXXXXXX

Gaara looked gleefully at the village around him. He'd been killing leaf ninja left and right, ever since unleashing the Shukaku. In his full form, there were very few things that could threaten him.

Unfortunately, there were still a few.

"Kuchiyose No Jutsu!"

With a blast of smoke, a black-furred dog almost as big as Shukaku appeared. Standing atop its head was Kakashi.

"Sorry for summoning you without any warning, but I need your help to take care of this thing," Kakashi told his summons.

"All right, let's go," the dog growled.

XXXXXXX

Naruto, Orochimaru, and the Sound Four landed atop the wall, which was free of leaf ninja.

"Wait a moment," Naruto said, turning around to look at the village.

"What is it?" Sakon asked.

"Is something wrong, Naruto-sama?" Jirobo asked.

"No, nothing's wrong," Naruto told him. He stayed that way for almost half a minute, looking out at the burning village and the two huge fights going on between the summons and Gaara. Then, he took a deep breath and turned around. "Okay, let's go." The six of them ran down the wall and then jumped into the forest, leaping through the trees at high speed.

"What was that about?" Sakon inquired. "Feeling sentimental for your old village?"

"No," Naruto answered bluntly. "I guess you could say I was admiring the view." The older boy smirked oddly.

"You're kind of weird sometimes, Naruto-sama," he stated. Naruto glared at him in annoyance for a moment.

"If you really want to know, I was letting go of my anger," Naruto explained. "I've repaid Konoha well enough, so I decided it was time to stop being angry at them."

_An interesting notion,_ Orochimaru thought. _I'm a little disappointed that I can't attempt that. But Sarutobi-sensei wounded me again today, and now I can't pay him back for it._

XXXXXXX

Two days later

Orochimaru's face contorted in pain as his arms felt like they were burning yet again. The sensation died down after a few seconds and he sagged slightly in his chair, panting heavily and sweating.

"I suppose it was too much to wish we could come out of that with no lasting injuries," Naruto mused as he entered the room. "But I hadn't expected it to be something this severe."

"This is," wheeze, "A temporary setback, nothing more," Orochimaru stated firmly.

"True," Naruto agreed. "But it will remain a setback until we take care of it. Kabuto just went out looking. He gave me this though before he left." He held up a sheet of paper.

"What is it?" Orochimaru asked.

"A report on Konoha's losses," Naruto stated. He perched on a counter next to a shriveled up hand and began to read aloud. "'Following the combined invasion of Sunagakure and Otogakure, Konoha has suffered an unprecedented loss of its shinobi population. Estimates are at approximately nineteen hundred shinobi casualties, and upward of three thousand civilian casualties. This leaves Konoha with a shinobi population of approximately eleven hundred, the vast majority of which is now Genin and Chunin, as almost all Jonin and ANBU were killed during the invasion. Less than one hundred of the aforementioned remaining eleven hundred are ANBU, Jonin, or Tokubetsu Jonin, while approximately seven hundred are Genin and three hundred are Chunin. Massive damage was done to the village itself, including the destruction of over seventy percent of all buildings. The destruction was caused primarily by huge serpents and fire jutsu.'" He paused. "Not to mention the Shukaku.'" He looked up at Orochimaru and chuckled. "He mentions Gaara like he's an afterthought. I don't know whether to be proud that I'm more destructive than him or insulted that Kabuto won't refer to my fellow Jinchuriki by name."

"Continue," Orochimaru hissed.

"Sorry, Orochimaru-sensei," Naruto apologized. "'The most significant survivors are the Sannin Jiraiya, Hatake Kakashi, Maito Gai, Sarutobi Asuma, Aburame Shibi, Inuzuka Tsume, and Morino Ibiki. The most significant casualties were Sarutobi Hiruzen, Hyuuga Hiashi, Nara Shikaku, Akimichi Choza, and Yamanaka Inoichi.' And that's it," he told his sensei.

"Very well. What about our losses?" He inquired.

"We suffered twelve percent casualties. Mostly Genin and Chunin, with a handful of Jonin. Our ally, Sunagakure, suffered eleven percent casualties. Again, mostly Genin and Chunin. Neither of us lost anyone especially strong. In fact, if I may say so, the worst damage we took was from the old man."

"I ssee," Orochimaru hissed. "And here I was expecting much worse."

"A lot of the leaf ninja died trying to stop Gaara and Manda," Naruto commented. "And the sand ninja are no pushovers. It's good for us to have an alliance with them."

"Yes, I suppose that is true. I had been thinking of betraying them as well to ensure that they did not become a serious threat, but this way is better. And of course, we will always be prepared to make sure they do not betray us."

"Of course," Naruto agreed. "So, after we get your arms fixed, what happens?"

"The same as always," Orochimaru said. "We continue expanding our power base and recruiting new shinobi. We will establish a real village for our shinobi to live in, and we will continue experiments and research."

"Sounds good," Naruto said with a smile. "Now that Konoha has lost status as one of the five great villages, are you going to try to fill that gap?"

"No, being a Kage no longer matters to me," Orochimaru stated. "I shall pursue my dream of mastering every jutsu in the world and being immortal."

"As far as that goes, the plan went off perfectly," Naruto commented. "Uchiha Sasuke survived, and we'll use the curse seal to draw him in so you can take him to be your new body."

"Yesss, the Sharingan will soon be mine," Orochimaru hissed eagerly. He suddenly grimaced and stiffened as pain wracked his body again. He yelled in agony for a few moments, then fell silent when the pain subsided.

"No need to worry, Kabuto will find Tsunade-san before too long," Naruto tried to assure his teacher. "If you don't mind, I'm going to train a little bit."

"Go ahead," Orochimaru murmured, exhausted now. Naruto hopped down off the counter and left the room.

XXXXXXX

Jiraiya looked around the room. Kakashi, Gai, Asuma, Shibi, Tsume, and ibiki looked back at him. Once things had settled down, as much as possible, he had called them together to discuss Konoha's next move.

"I'm not a good diplomat, so I'll be perfectly honest with you," Jiraiya began. "Konoha has never been in a worse situation. We suffered over sixty percent losses, we have less than a hundred ANBU and Jonin combined, the majority of our remaining shinobi are Genin, and our Hokage is dead."

"I think the first order of business should be to decide upon a new Hokage," Kakashi spoke up.

"I agree," Asuma said. Everyone else gave their agreement.

"Jiraiya-san, you're probably the best candidate," Asuma said when they were done.

"No way, not me," Jiraiya protested. "I'm Konoha's spymaster, my efforts over the past thirteen years would be wasted if I became the Hokage. I'd never be able to gather information."

"Well then, who are we gonna pick?" Tsume asked, irritation creeping into her voice.

"The only other Sannin," Jiraiya stated. "My old teammate Tsunade."

"Seriously?" Kakashi was a little surprised. "Are you certain you can persuade her to come back?"

"I think I can," Jiraiya said. "Kakashi, I'd like you to come with me."

"Why me?" the copy nin inquired.

"Minato was one of the only people Tsunade really liked, and since you're his student she's more likely to listen to you."

"Makes sense," Kakashi agreed.

"What do we do in the meantime?" Ibiki asked.

"Konoha is in a very bad spot right now. We've lost the vast majority of our fighting power and we're also lacking civilian services. We need to prepare for any possible attack. Otogakure and Sunagakure may make a second attempt to end us; they came pretty damn close to it the first time, and they lost a lot fewer men than we did. If they do attack us, we'll have no choice but to retreat."

"What? You're joking, right?" Tsume snapped angrily.

"No, I'm not. Don't forget, during their first attack we had nearly three times as many shinobi as we do now. And Orochimaru was busy fighting Sarutobi-sensei. If he joins the front lines, along with both Jinchuriki and the armies of sand and sound, we're toast. Kakashi and I have strong summons, but nowhere near strong enough to handle all of that. We were barely able to fight off Manda and the Shukaku. Uzumaki Naruto, it would seem, wore himself out fighting the Ino-Shika-Cho trio." There was a moment of silence as they all recalled the fact that three of their fellows had been killed by a single enemy.

"Was it really Naruto?" Kakashi asked after a moment. "How certain are we?"

"Quite certain," Jiraiya told him. "Golden blonde hair, three scars on each cheek, and red eyes with slits. Not to mention the chakra signature we all felt."

"I can't believe that brat snuck away from us," Tsume growled. "How could we have overlooked a body double?"

"Our own prejudice got turned against us," Asuma muttered. "Nobody liked the kid except for my dad and lots of people outright hated him. It didn't seem like a huge surprise that he should be killed. And when the medic nin on duty confirmed, as much as possible, that it was Naruto, no one disputed him. What probably happened was that they altered a body to make it resemble the kid and mangled it so much that any evidence to suggest it was a body double was erased or covered up. In hindsight, it's blindingly obvious."

"Well, we need to be prepared for anything. Kumo, Iwa, or Kiri could decide to attack us. We have to be prepared for any attack and get Tsunade as quickly as possible. Once we have the new Hokage, she'll make the decisions about what to do next. Until then, just be on the defensive against any potential threat," Jiraiya told everyone.

XXXXXXX

One week after the invasion

Naruto walked into the room where the new recruit was. The red-haired girl looked up at him and started suddenly.

"Something wrong?" he inquired.

"I-I'm sorry," Karin stammered. "I was just a little surprised because of your chakra."

"My chakra?" he was a little surprised to hear that. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm a sensory-type shinobi," she explained. "And your chakra feels unusual to me. I've never felt anything like it really."

"Can you explain what it feels like?" He asked her, intrigued now. She nodded and focused, closing her eyes to help concentrate.

"In a way it's really warm and nice," she said. "But then it's like there's an undertone to it, kind of like a second chakra, that's really, well I hope you don't mind me saying this, but it feels really malicious and cold."

"Well, congratulations," Naruto told her, smiling as she opened her eyes. "You're the first person other than Orochimaru-sensei to be able to sense my chakra. I keep it suppressed unless I'm fighting."

"Oh, I see," Karin murmured.

"Well, if you're that good at sensing chakras, then I don't see any problem with you joining Oto," he told her. "But I need to test you and see what kind of combat ability you have." She gulped nervously. "Don't worry," he told her, chuckling. "I'll be gentle. After all, it would be a shame to hurt a girl as pretty as you." Karin blushed slightly at his words.

XXXXXXX

Two weeks later

Naruto walked into Orochimaru's room. His smile turned into a grimace as he saw the doctor that Orochimaru had just cut in half.

"Kabuto's been successful, Orochimaru-sensei," he said. "Tsunade-san is in a town called Tanzaku-gai."

"Finally," Orochimaru said wearily. "We're leaving immediately, Naruto-kun."

XXXXXXX

"This is a really nice view," Shizune commented as she looked up at Tanzaku castle.

"I suppose so," Tsunade admitted.

KABOOM!

The castle suddenly exploded. A huge cloud of smoke rose up, and when it cleared, the two shocked kunoichi could see a giant snake with two people standing on its head.

XXXXXXX

Naruto glanced around at the rubble and the screaming crowds.

"Sensei, do you ever worry that you overdramatize things?" He inquired. Orochimaru glanced at him and frowned.

"You _are_ joking, right?" He asked. Naruto sighed.

XXXXXXX

"This is unexpected, Orochimaru," Tsunade said, once the snake Sannin and his apprentice had gotten off the snake and dispelled it. "And was the exploding castle really necessary?"

"You should know I don't like to waste time talking about trivial matters," her old teammate replied, ignoring his apprentice's amused grin. "I came here to make you an offer."

"What kind of offer is that?"

"My arms have been seriously injured, due to a little run-in with our old sensei. I was hoping you could heal them for me."

"You fought Sarutobi-sensei?" Tsunade was surprised to say the least. "When? What happened!" She demanded.

"Yelling at someone isn't the best way to make them do something," the blonde boy remarked.

"Who the hell do you think you are, brat?" she snapped at him.

"Uzumaki Naruto," he told her. "Personal apprentice of Orochimaru."

"N-Naruto?" Tsunade gasped. "That can't be!" Yet looking at him, she was forced to admit that he looked a lot like Minato, aside from the scars and the eyes, both of which only further helped prove his identity. "I thought you were dead!"

"It's kind of annoying how many people still think that," he muttered. "No, Yakushi Kabuto had a body double made in order to take my place so they could stage my death. I, meanwhile, escaped to Otogakure."

"You betrayed your own village?" Tsunade growled at him.

"Please, don't act as if that makes me evil. Especially since you left the village thirteen years ago and haven't returned once since then. You may not have betrayed them, but you certainly abandoned them. And I was not a shinobi at the point, I was a civilian. Not to mention that they deserved it for the way they treated me. In any case, Tsunade-san, this is not the reason we are here. We are here because Orochimaru-sensei has an offer for you."

"Don't change the subject, brat!" she yelled at him.

"Didn't I already say that yelling someone isn't a good way to make them do something?" Naruto inquired. "Now, as we were saying, Orochimaru-sensei needs for you to heal his arms."

"And why should I do that?" she spat at her former teammate. "Why on earth should I heal you after you attacked Sarutobi-sensei? Since you're still alive, I'm going to assume you wounded him enough to ensure he couldn't kill you."

"True," Orochimaru admitted.

"The old man is dead, in fact," Naruto commented. "He destroyed sensei's arms first though."

"WHAT!" Tsunade and Shizune yelled in shock and anger.

"And you really think I'll heal your arms, teme! Screw you! Now get out of here before I kill you! You've got five seconds!" Naruto and Orochimaru glanced at each other. Having been master and apprentice for so long, it was easy for Naruto to nonverbally ask a question, and for Orochimaru to answer similarly.

"Five," Tsunade began. "Four. Three." Orochimaru and Naruto hadn't moved at all. "Two. O –"

"I can return your little brother and the man you loved to this world," Orochimaru interrupted her. The slug Sannin's brown eyes widened as she heard those words. "With a forbidden jutsu that I have developed."

"Wh-what?" she stammered. "You can really…?"

"Yes, we can," Naruto stated. "Anyone in Konoha could verify it for you." He tilted his head to the side and looked up at the sky with a contemplative look on his face. "Speaking of it, I wonder how they got rid of those four?"

"Probably high-powered fire jutsu," Orochimaru guessed. "They would have to completely destroy the body and the seal tag to end the jutsu."

"In any case," Naruto turned back to Tsunade. "If you heal Orochimaru-sensei's arms, you have our word that we will perform the jutsu to return Nawaki and Dan. They will be themselves in almost all aspects."

"Almost all aspects?" Tsunade inquired.

"They won't require sustenance as normal humans would," Naruto explained. "They will still be able to eat and drink, and enjoy what they're eating and drinking, but they won't need to. Aside from that, they will be just as they were before they died."

"I-I.." Tsunade stammered, unable to think fast enough to come up with an adequate response.

"Tsunade-sama, surely you are not thinking of accepting!" Shizune yelled. "We should just kill them now, while Orochimaru is weakened!"

"I don't think that will be as easy as you assume," Naruto commented, raising his left hand to his mouth. He bit his thumb hard enough to cut it and opened his mouth to let the blood fall to the ground. Tsunade drew a shaky breath as she looked at it. She immediately began trembling violently as her eyes widened and fixed upon the red liquid. Shizune cursed.

"You really are a complete bastard, aren't you?" she spat at the blonde shinobi. Naruto shrugged.

"You'll have to come up with something much more original if you want to insult me," he told her. "In any case," he paused and made a fist, folding his thumb under the other fingers to hide the bleeding digit from view. "We don't need an answer now, Tsunade-san. We'll return in one week's time, and we expect you to have your answer then." With that, he and Orochimaru vanished in two blurs of motion.

XXXXXXX

Uchiha Lord 15: To explain about the vast losses on Konoha's side: in the canon invasion, Gaara was out of the village when he transformed, and Naruto stopped him right there in the forest, so he didn't kill anyone. Manda was never summoned, and he's a toughassed summons. Jiraiya took out the snakes that attacked the main wall of Konoha, and in this he had to fight Manda. With Jiraiya busy, Ibiki and the ANBU would have had to take care of those snakes themselves. Adding in damage and kills from those snakes, Naruto, the Shukaku, and Manda(since Jiraiya didn't get there immediately), and the fact that Shikaku, Choza, and Inoichi had to fight Naruto instead of forcing back the invaders, the death count would be a lot higher.

To be entirely honest, I hadn't even thought of having Naruto summon his dad. Orochimaru tried and failed to summon him, like in canon.

I'm finally getting over my writer's block, and I'm getting somewhere with my story, so I went ahead and finished up this chapter as well. For some reason, the last scene was hard to write.


End file.
